The NatWest Three - millionaire ‘victims … of the culture of greed at Enron’

Posted on February 24th, 2008 by bryan.
Categories: General.

The so-called ‘NatWest Three’ have been sentenced to 37 months’ imprisonment for their part in a fraud related to the now bankrupt Enron. Three years in jail will not be easy, but this sentence fails to reflect the seriousness of their crime - privileged men taking advantage of their positions and each walking away with almost £4m of their employer’s money.

If this crime had been committed by men from a different demographic, their punishment would undoubtedly have been different (i.e. more severe). Instead, Judge Ewing Werlein complimented Bermingham, Mulgrew and Darby on their ‘favourable qualities’ and wished them well in their future endeavours - by which, I assume, he did not mean further frauds! Moreover, one of the trio’s defence lawyers had the gall to suggest that these convicted criminals were in fact ‘victims … of the culture of greed at Enron’. Whilst they might be victims in the sense that they are being punished, this is a consequence of their own corruption. The real victims here are Enron’s former shareholders, employees and other stakeholders, few of whom ’suffered’ from a multi-million pound growth in their personal wealth.

It is likely that the ‘NatWest Three’ will apply to serve their sentence in the UK. Lord Digby Jones has previously supported such a move, who as the then Director-General of the CBI (and now a Minister of State at the BERR) was concerned that the trio would be ‘banged up in a US prison with rapists and drug addicts’. Imagine putting criminals in a prison full of criminals - they do strange things in America!!

The preferential treatment of ‘white-collar criminals’ is a favourite topic for those who study crime and punishment. The case of the ‘NatWest Three’ is a perfect example of the middle classes looking out for their own, with total disregard for the nature and materiality of the crime involved - a significant fraud. Thankfully, no individual suffered a physical loss here. However, we will only win the fight against corruption - which impacts on society at large - if our prosecutors and courts take-on actively those who wilfully infringe the corporate governance laws and codes that we read so much about. Otherwise, there is no incentive for corporate governance to be anything more than a box-ticking exercise.

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