Natwest bank manager was involved in over 100k theft from fathers bank account. Advice needed

[sopho3000]

Hi everyone.

I'm new to these forums and I'm not sure if I am posting in the correct place.

Please feel free to point me in the right direction if it's better suited somewhere else.

 

Although this story is fairly long, I will try and explain it the best I can.

I am speaking on behalf of my Father because he has dyslexia and finds it difficult to read and write well.

 

Back in 2005 my Father owned a fairly successful business but he was having trouble with the bookkeeping and accounts.

Around this time, he was approached by a company called Barrington Finance, who told him that they were able to help him sort his difficulties out and get his books and accounts in order.

 

Shortly after, the director of Barrington finance decided he wanted to leave his job and be in partnership with my Father, as he was bored of his job and wanted to take a new direction.

 

The director then introduced my Father to a bank manager who worked at Natwest.

My Fathers new business partner, and the manager of Natwest advised my Father to remortgage his home for £100'000 and to put the money in to an account for a new business venture my Father set up.

 

The bank manager opened up 3 separate business accounts for different business's for my father and his new business partner, with an overdraft facility on 2 accounts.

A mandate was set in place for the accounts, which stated that money could only be withdrawn/transferred with two signatures. That of my Fathers, and his new business partner.

 

Around 8 months after these accounts were set up,

my Father noticed some suspicious activity within his business, he then went in branch to check one of the accounts (the one he had put the £100'000 in), to find that the account had been closed and all the money had been taken out.

He was at a complete loss for words as he had only authorised one transaction over that period.

He knew straight away that his new business partner was involved in the disappearance of the money and the account closure.

 

Upon viewing the bank statements of these accounts, there had been withdrawals of large sums of money which were not authorised by my Father.

 

He immediately reported the matter to the police to which they said they could not do anything until they received confirmation from the bank that these fraudulent actions had taken place.

 

He then approached the bank and reported the theft to the bank assistant to which they passed onto the managers.

The manager did agree that fraudulent activity had been taking place and asked him to put it in writing so they can investigate further into the matter. The case was then passed onto the fraud investigation department.

 

Whilst this investigation was happening (it took almost two years) the bank itself made a claim against my Father for the £10000 overdraft facility.

 

He tried to inform the bank that their bank manager had authorised the overdraft and is involved in the theft and the unauthorised transactions taken out of the accounts.

 

In the end, the claim that my Father was trying to make was not taken to court because Natwest said that the £10’000 overdraft he apparently owed and the disappearance of the £100’000 were not related.

 

Before Natwest took my Father to court, he had payed around £7000 in legal costs trying to take them to court.

 

After all of this happened, my Father lost his business, our family home… everything he had ever worked hard for.

 

In 2008, my dad had to pay back the £10’000. He has suffered a tremendous amount of stress and depression from this ordeal, and we are all suffering to this very day.

 

that is the general background to the story.

 

I hope it wasn’t too difficult to follow for those of you that are still reading this.

 

Of course there are further points to make but it would take way too long to explain on this forum.

 

I have a few important questions to ask and some key points to elaborate on

 

When my Father saw the account transactions, it showed that money was been transferred to his business partners account, his business partners WIFES account and then to the other two business accounts that were set up.

 

When he asked Natwest to show him WHO authorised these transactions (there were 21 account transfers) they said that this is only kept on file in a note system for a very short period of time and then destroyed.

Is this true?

 

So if you have a large sum of money in an account that is only allowed withdrawal/transactions with two signatures, they have NO evidence to show who allowed this to happen?

 

2) Before the mandate was set in place and signed by my father and his business partner, £10’000 was withdrawn out of the account in cash, with only 1 signature, the signature of his business partner!

This was BEFORE the mandate was even set in place!

Surely this is enough evidence?

And surely this is completely in breach of the contract???

 

3) The bank manager of natwest was over-riding my fathers authority and allowing my fathers business partner to transfer the money without his permission.

What is even more astounding is that the bank manager of Natwest was SACKED in 2008 due to gross misconduct.

But they did not mention this at court?!

 

Fastforward to 2015,

we have now taken this case to the Financial Ombudsman.

I sent off a case file that has all evidence and documents pertaining to the investigation back in 2007/8.

The court had ordered Natwest to release all their documents of their investigation so EVERYTHING they did/said is all here with me in a file.

 

before the case was passed on to the adjudicator,

another person who was dealing with it beforehand said that Natwest have not issued my Father with a deadlock letter .

 

can the ombudsman make a decision without the deadlock letter?

 

We have asked the Ombudsman time and time again to get the deadlock letter from the bank but he has ignored these requests.

He said that because it happened so long ago , Natwest have told him they haven't kept the case on file.

BUT we have everything here on file because as I said earlier, the court ordered Natwest to release everything they were doing on the investigation back in 2007/08.

 

What are the chances of my Father getting anywhere with this case since it has been more than six years?

 

I would greatly appreciate everyones thoughts, comments and suggestions

 

. If you have any questions that you would like to ask then please feel free to do so. Thank you for reading.

[BazzaS]

What came about regarding any police action taken any for theft or fraud?

 

An action against the bank for negligence would be time barred at 6 years. What has changed that you are looking to take action against the bank now, rather than within the six years?

 

An action to recover proceeds of theft or fraud wouldn't become time barred (S4 Limitations Act 1980)

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/58/section/4

however, I'm not sure you could go after the bank for this, only the persons commiting any fraud or theft, (or non-innocent recipients depending on what has happened to the funds since).

[sopho3000]

What came about regarding any police action taken any for theft or fraud?

 

An action against the bank for negligence would be time barred at 6 years. What has changed that you are looking to take action against the bank now, rather than within the six years?

 

An action to recover proceeds of theft or fraud wouldn't become time barred (S4 Limitations Act 1980)

 

however, I'm not sure you could go after the bank for this, only the persons commiting any fraud or theft, (or non-innocent recipients depending on what has happened to the funds since).

 

Hi there,

 

Well the police said they couldn't do anything until Natwest confirmed that fraudulent actions had taken place.... the bank never confirmed it so nothing was done.

 

I assumed that because the Bank Manager was employed by Natwest and working for them then they would be responsible too?

[BazzaS]

Hi there,

 

Well the police said they couldn't do anything until Natwest confirmed that fraudulent actions had taken place.... the bank never confirmed it so nothing was done.

 

I assumed that because the Bank Manager was employed by Natwest and working for them then they would be responsible too?

 

The bank could be responsible for negligence, but the bank didn't steal / defraud the money. Mind you, I'm not a lawyer ... So we'll see what others say.

 

Again, why wait more than six years?

[sopho3000]

After everything that had happened, my father had nothing left of him. He was in and out of nervous breakdowns and depression and felt completely defeated. I feel that he has now got the strength to speak up again about what has happened to him, so that is why it has taken all this time.

 

I was very young when this happened, so was not in a position to help him. Now I am.

[AndyOrch]

There is no limitation period statute bar which applies to claims for fraud until it is discovered and Fraudulent breach of trust, time runs from the time the claimant is aware of the relevant facts.

 

Andy