Just a thought-any suggestions?

[Unholy Alliance]

I was talking to trading standards recently,and they suggested(off record) that it could be possible that the accusation of false accounting could theoretically be levelled at the banks since in all their financial dealings they must be recording unlawful charges as part of either their profit, or money "owed", which obviously doesnt add up since they must have been aware that these charges were illegal.

 

CRIMES ACT 1958 - SECT 83 False accounting

 

I just wondered what other people thought?

[nevos]

This is an interesting thought ^ I wonder if the Banks are claiming tax relief on the refunds thus clawing some of it back..

[Unholy Alliance]

I hadnt thought of that bit...I wonder what the moderators might have to say on the subject, or if anyone else out there has had a similar conversation with their trading standards people?

[thesergeant]

Unholy Alliance,

 

Unfortunately the act you have referred to is the Australian version. The UK false accounting is Sect 17(1) Theft Act 1968. This refers to a dishonest falsifying of accounts with a view to gain. This may be difficult to prove as the accounts may not be "falsified".

 

A much better way to pursue the banks if there was enough political will would be The Fraud Act 2006, maybe section 2 Fraud by false representation OR Participation if a fraudulent business, which is under the Companies Act 1985, but the Fraud Act 2006 has increased the penalty to 10 years. :)

 

The argument would be that the banks are well aware that the charges are unlawful, but they continue to charge them purporting them to be lawful which they are not. They are profiteering from misrepresentation on a massive scale, £4.5 billion a year.

 

I have raised this in a number of threads previously.

[Unholy Alliance]

Thanks for that Sergeant! I read your earlier thread on this subject, and agree with you. However, persuading the Police or the CPS to do anything is a hard slog (altho I am more than ready to go the whole distance).I have made an official complaint of harassment, and I have an Police Inspector who essentially agrees with my premise that I have a valid cause of complaint. Currently I am asking my MP to look into this matter for me as well, since the CPS view seems to be that this is perfectly OK for banks to behave in the way that they have.(harassment) . I shall look into a second complaint in respect of false accounting/fraud, but since I gave their barrister a good "kicking" in court, and won, it would be difficult for me to show any loss. However, the Judges order was I think, quite interesting. It was ordered that"the defendant (A+L) take no issue on liability save quantum" In other words, the bank accepted that the basis of my court action(unlawful charges, non negotiated unfair contract etc) was correct.In other words, they admit their actions were unlawful- as opposed to settling out of court on a commercial consideration basis. This means, I guess that all their letters since that judgement to any A+L account holder can be seen as harassment ( if they are based on unlawful actions)....time to make the Police aware of the thousands of us that have been abused in this way? Let me know what you think!

[thesergeant]

Unholy,

 

The police are not really the right authority to take this. It would have to be the Serious Fraud Office or a political inquest.

 

The CPS can not take independent action, they examine police and other law enforcing institutions investigations to decide upon charges/prosecutions.

 

The way forward is continual and increasing political/media pressure. After all this is by far the biggest apparent misappropriation of monies from the public ever in this country, if not further afield.

 

It really needs a mass campaign of complaint of unlawful actions by the banks to get this going ............... :lol:

[Unholy Alliance]

I am with you on that! I recognise the points you make on the fraud side, and am happy to work with you or anyone else on the campaign front. But as you say, it is about amassing evidence in the end. in my own situation ( and I guess many others) proving a harassment charge would be more straight forward than fraud, because we already have the evidence to substantiate our complaint. Once the cracks start to appear, I guess its only a matter of time before the rats in the sinking ship start to squeal, if I can put it that way.however, for any campaign to be successful, it needs to be properly considered, managed and executed. Thats why Im not running off at a tangent on this myself, because I recognise the political upheaval of it all. Fraud, as you know, would be a good enough reason for the OFT to suspend the banks Consumer Credit Licence whilst an investigation is carried out. For A+L this would mean a daily loss of profit of some £1.75M.So slowly but surely does it! Thanks for your continued opinions, they are very much appreciated.