Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Young was acting alone, SFO believes

Jill Treanor
Sunday 29 September 1996 23:02 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Investigators working on the Morgan Grenfell unit trust scandal now believe Peter Young acted alone. The Serious Fraud Office, which raided Mr Young's pounds 450,000 Amersham home over the weekend, appears to have dismissed speculation that he was part of some kind of criminal conspiracy.

Contrary to weekend reports, it is understood the SFO has concluded that Mr Young did not have an accomplice when he set up Luxembourg shell companies to hide the scale of his investment in risky hi-tech firms.

The complexity of the companies had suggested Mr Young would have needed help to hide his actions. The SFO is now working to establish whether Mr. Young has committed any criminal offence. He was not arrested when his home was raided, but documents were taken away.

Neither Mr Young nor his lawyer could be reached for comment yesterday, although in the past he has said his employers knew about his investments.

Parallel investigations have been launched to establish the ownership of 13 Luxembourg holding companies set up by Mr Young and another, Russ Oil and Technology, which helped set investigators on to his trail.

Morgan Grenfell has taken control of six of these holding companies and established it owns huge stakes in a number of Scandinavian firms.

But the ownership of Russ Oil is causing controversy, with some sources claiming a clear line of control to Morgan Grenfell Jersey, while others believe it may have been personally owned by Mr Young.

The contents of Mr Young's Jersey bank account are also being analysed, amid reports that at least pounds 2m is kept there.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in