Downing Street Says » Sir Fred Goodwin Pension

Asked if the Government was going to explore all the legal avenues within the existing law rather than possible new laws, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) said that our focus was on firstly, looking at Fred Goodwin s contract and whether or not the payments that were made were consistent with his employment contract. Secondly, we were looking at whether or not the board of RBS took the decision in the full knowledge of all of the facts.

Asked if it made any difference looking at these things as the board had already signed it off, the PMS said that we firstly needed to establish what the circumstances were and then get lawyers to take a view as to whether or not that made any difference.

Asked whether or not the board took the decision in the full knowledge of the facts, the PMS said that was being looked into.

Asked when the focus began on the employment contract and the decision-making process, the PMS said that the Treasury had put out a statement last Wednesday saying that since they had become aware of the issue, UK Financial Investments had been vigorously pursuing with the new chairman whether there was any scope for clawing back some or all of the pension entitlement, and whether the board took the decision in the full knowledge of the facts. Our position had been consistent throughout.

Asked if the comments Harriet Harman made at the weekend were consistent with the rest of government, the PMS said that Harriet Harman had expressed the understandable anger people felt about the nature or this individual s pension.

Asked how much of the pension deal had been discretionary, the PMS said that that was one of the things being looked into. We had not seen the employment contract and that was why we had asked lawyers to look at it and see if the payments had been consistent with it.

Asked if the Government was looking at whether a retrospective change to the law would be subject to challenge, the PMS said that he would not comment on the Government s legal advice when lawyers were still looking at the matter.

1 Comment »

hi
why are they picking on his penson all m p s get away with money they don,t earn, mr brown as not done a good job, but he will get a big penson
Comment by john lynch — 3 Mar 2009 on 11:40 pm | Link

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» Monday, March 2, 2009

Sir Fred Goodwin Pension

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