UK and US regulators were told of a state-led drive to "rig" interest rates in the 2008 financial crisis, but covered it up, evidence indicates.
At the height of the 2008 financial crisis, when bank lending had almost ground to a halt, central banks around the world urged calm. But behind the scenes, the investigation reveals evidence that they were pulling levers to restore calm artificially - measures which would later be ruled to be against the law in the UK.
In November 2010, investigating agencies from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to the UK financial regulator were directly informed of this - but they have since kept it secret from Parliament, Congress and the public. I uncovered extracts from the transcript of an interview given by Barclays cash trader Peter Johnson whilst researching a book I have written about the secret history of the interest rate rigging scandal.
Nineteen traders have been convicted and nine jailed because of court rulings that outlawed any influence on Libor apart from the interest rates on offer on the money markets at which a bank could borrow and lend cash. Mr Johnson said in October 2008 he was instructed by his bosses to submit artificially low Libor rates, far below the real interest rates on offer in the market - under pressure from the Bank of England and the UK government.
On the weekend of 11-12 October 2008, then UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown flew to Paris for an emergency summit with European leaders, including then European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet, all of whom issued statements calling for the need for "co-ordinated" action to tackle the crisis.
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