WATCHDOG'S INVESTIGATORS DESCEND ON NATIONWIDE - The Financial Regulator has sent a team of investigators into the head offices of Irish Nationwide to probe its role in facilitating former Anglo Irish chairman Sean FitzPatrick in hiding his director's loans, the Irish Independent has learned. Around half a dozen inspectors appointed by the regulator are on site at Irish Nationwide's head office at Grant Parade, Dublin 6, and are examining documents there. These inspectors have wide powers which allow them to see any documents they want to without having to go to the courts. A spokeswoman for the Financial Regulator would not comment yesterday on the probe, but it is understood the inspectors are part of a team of about 30 authorised officers appointed by the regulator to help it in a number of investigations in different institutions. The officers include staff from top accountancy firms Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG.
***
QUINN TO INVEST €100m in TATARSTAN DEVELOPMENT - Businessman Sean Quinn's group is investing €100 million in a property development in the Russian republic of Tatarstan, writes the Irish Times. Quinn Group's property development division is building a storage and distribution centre in the city of Kazan, which is the capital of Tatarstan. While the group, which Mr Quinn and his family control, has not said how much it is investing in the project, the figure is understood to be in the region of €100 million. The country's prime minister, Rustam Minnikhanov, is in the Republic as part of a delegation from the Russian federation, and referred to the development yesterday during a function organised by business group, IBEC. Quinn Group is due to officially open the development early next week. The centre, or logistics park, will cater for local and multinational businesses. Tatarstan is in eastern European Russia, located between the Ural mountains, the Volga river and a number of its tributaries. Its capital is about 800km east of Moscow.
***
MAJOR CITY FRAUDS UNCOVERED BY POLICE - A spate of Bernard Madoff-style scams that threaten to bring misery to thousands of investors is being investigated by police and the Serious Fraud Office, The London Independent has learnt. Bogus investment schemes have been uncovered by investigators focusing on crime resulting from the credit crunch. One senior officer has called them "mini-Madoffs", a reference to the US fund manager Bernard Madoff, who is accused of profiting from a £30 billion pyramid investment fraud - or Ponzi scheme - which paid investors returns from their own money, or cash paid by subsequent investors, rather than from the scheme's profits. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is still investigating Mr Madoff's activities in Britain. In an interview with The Independent, Richard Alderman, the director of the SFO, said he expected other alleged cases of "fraud on investors" to be made public soon. One allegedly involves a "big Ponzi" fraud, similar to that used by Mr Madoff, he added, without revealing further details of the case.
***
BARCLAYS QUESTIONED ON FUNDS - Lehman Brothers' US liquidators have asked Barclays to explain what happened to an estimated $3.3 billion earmarked for bonuses and other liabilities that the UK bank received when it acquired part of the bankrupt Wall Street company last year, writes the Financial Times. The move by Bryan Marsal, who heads the firm managing Lehman's US liquidation, underlines the tension between the company's creditors and Barclays, which acquired the North American arms of the investment bank for $1.5 billion after it filed for bankruptcy in September.
