Barclay brothers Sir David and Sir Frederick after receiving knighthoods from the Queen in 2000. The pair enjoy a life of secluded luxury in Monaco and Brecqhou. Photograph: Michael Stephens/PA A rare glimpse into the business lives of the billionaire Barclay brothers, owners of the Ritz hotel and the Telegraph newspaper titles, paints a picture of septuagenarian twins with fading memories and loose control over their family interests, who are happy to sign paperwork they do not read or do not understand."My memory is not what it once was (and, in any event, I have never been very good at dates)," Sir Frederick Barclay said in a witness statement submitted as part of a defence against a lawsuit over the ownership of luxury London hotel ... Continue reading →

Barclay brothers Sir David and Sir Frederick after receiving knighthoods from the Queen in 2000. The pair enjoy a life of secluded luxury in Monaco and Brecqhou. Photograph: Michael Stephens/PA A rare glimpse into the business lives of the billionaire Barclay brothers, owners of the Ritz hotel and the Telegraph newspaper titles, paints a picture of septuagenarian twins with fading memories and loose control over their family interests, who are happy to sign paperwork they do not read or do not understand."My memory is not what it once was (and, in any event, I have never been very good at dates)," Sir Frederick Barclay said in a witness statement submitted as part of a defence against a lawsuit over the ownership of luxury London hotel ... Continue reading →

One of the UK branches of BCCI. Photograph: James Jim James/PA Archive/Press Association Ima It took 21 years and $656m (£415m) of fees paid to two firms of lawyers and accountants but on Thursday the files were finally closed on the banking scandal that was the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. It ranged from arms trafficking to prostitution and ended with a $20bn collapse.Liquidators and lawyers acting for creditors to BCCI held a final meeting with victims of Britain's biggest banking scandal. About 150 creditors sat in silence at Westminster's Central Hall as liquidators from Deloitte and lawyers from Hogan Lovells explained how the battle for recoveries had taken them around the world, to "desert warehouses" and remote locations where "documents were rotting in ... Continue reading →

A worker leaves the Vedanta company's Lanjigarh alumina refinery at the foot of Niyamgiri mountain in Orissa state, India. Photograph: Gethin Chamberlain Mining, an activity which seems to generate an ever increasingly portion of FTSE 100 group profits, can be a deadly business. Vedanta Resources chairman Anil Agarwal, whose family control two-thirds of the company's shares, will report financial results for the year to 31 March tomorrow — but it will be a few more months more before we learn, from the group's annual sustainability report, whether Vedanta has managed to meet its target of zero fatalities in the year.That would be some achievement. For 2011 the death toll among workers and contractors was 26, for 2010 it was 67.This week it emerged that the ... Continue reading →

A worker leaving Vedanta's Lanjigarh alumina refinery in Orissa state, India. Photograph Gethin Chamberlain Multinational mining group Vedanta Resources has had two British safety awards – including one endorsed by the UK's Health and Safety Executive – suspended after campaigners drew attention to controversies including a fatality at the group's operations in Orissa, India.The British Safety Council had been due to present representatives from a subsidiary, Vedanta Aluminium, with a "distinction" award for its Lanjigarh refinery at a black-tie gala dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair on Friday night. An invitation to the event, described by organisers as "the Oscars of health and safety", has now been withdrawn.In a statement, BSC said: "Information has been brought to [our] attention concerning a fatality at ... Continue reading →

House of Fraser is frosty about Kevin Stanford's surprise return to the company’s boardroom. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian Department store group House of Fraser has given a frosty reception to embattled retail tycoon Kevin Stanford, insisting his surprise return to the company's boardroom was "not welcome" and had been grudgingly accepted only because of a legal obligation.Stanford, who is mired in a long-running legal battle with his creditors, is insisting on a seat on the board of parent company Highland because he is a 10% shareholder. However, the investment is disputed, with administrators to failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing believing it rightfully belongs to bank creditors.A source close to House of Fraser said: "Kevin will not be welcome at the Highland board. He has ... Continue reading →

Vincent Tchenguiz with members of his legal team outside the high court during their lawsuit against the administrators of Icelandic bank Kaupthing. Photograph: Andrew Winning/Reuters At the centre of Vincent Tchenguiz's dispute with the Serious Fraud Office is Britain's largest portfolio of residential freeholds. Worth about £2bn, this business formed the core of his empire and entitled a maze of UK and offshore companies he controlled to regular inflows of small but dependable ground rent payments from hundreds of thousands of leasehold homeowners in Britain.In March 2008 Tchenguiz pledged shares in the offshore holding companies controlling these assets to Kaupthing as collateral in two connected deals.The first batch of pledged shares went to plug what was said to be a £200m shortfall in an existing ... Continue reading →