No criminal charges to be brought against Goodwin or any RBS bosses

Since late 2011 the Crown Office has been probing what has been called the biggest corporate disaster in British history, an event that prompted the biggest ever taxpayer bailout of a company, when £45bn of public money was pumped in to keep the lender afloat at the height of the financial crisis in October 2008.

It is still 73 per cent owned by the UK government.

The inquiry was the biggest of its kind conducted by Scotland’s prosecution service and has ended with no action being taken against any of senior figures in charge of RBS when it failed, although that could change if new evidence emerges through a civil action being brought against the RBS by shareholders.

That case is expected to go to trial at the Commercial Court in London in March next year, although today’s announcement will be seen as a major blow to the bid for compensation.

Thousands of shareholders have brought a £4bn legal action against RBS over the rights issue which followed the bank’s disastrous takeover of ABN Amro and prior to its near collapse under the guidance of Goodwin.

Investors saw 90 per cent wiped off the value of their shares within months.

It has been reported that more than 63,000 small shareholders lost money, with many more affected through pension funds.

The biggest average loss of nearly £5500 was suffered by 1700 investors based in Edinburgh.

In an update on its investigation into RBS, a Crown Office spokesperson said today: “The failure of RBS is an issue of great public concern. The Crown undertook a thorough, independent investigation following publication of the FSA (now FCA) report in December 2011.

“The Crown’s investigation focussed on the rights issue of April – June 2008, and involved detailed consideration of whether there was any evidence of criminal conduct associated with the rights issue.

“If there were such evidence those responsible would face prosecution. If not, the public in Scotland could be reassured that the matter had been properly investigated.

“This was an extremely complex investigation which included the examination of over 160,000 documents by a team of specialist forensic accountants and banking experts, supervised by the Serious and Organised Crime Division.

“The investigation involved close co-operation with a range of financial regulators and banking institutions, including the Financial Conduct Authority, the Prudential Regulation Authority, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Reporting Council.

“Following careful examination of all the evidence seen to date, Crown Counsel have decided that there is insufficient evidence in law of criminal conduct either in relation to RBS as an institution or any directors or other senior management involved in the rights issue.

“If any further evidence comes to light which is relevant to this enquiry it will be considered by the Crown and we reserve the right to make further enquiry, if considered appropriate.”