Andy Verity

Award-winning BBC economics correspondent Andy Verity argues for the innocence of 19 financial traders convicted of rate rigging and says the real culprits have gone unpunished.

Verity’s story revolves around the London Interbank Offered Rate, known as Libor, which is a sign of a bank’s health. The higher the rate, the worse off is the bank. Verity describes how banks instructed traders to manipulate Libor down to protect themselves from collapse, nationalisation and loss of bonus. The practice, known as lowballing, is illegal. Verity says that when traders began to blow the whistle, prosecutors allowed banks to cover up evidence pointing to directors, central banks and government. Traders were instead accused of another kind of rigging that no-one had previously viewed as a crime.

Verity covers finance and business for BBC radio and television and reports for Panorama, Newsnight and File on Four. He has led the way in exposing rate rigging, including making a Panorama film about the role of the Bank of England in it.

This event is part of a series on the uncovering of public scandals and on campaigns against injustice.