Former British Prime Minister David Cameron, implicated in a lobbying scandal shaking political and financial circles, admitted this Sunday, after a long silence, errors in his role of advising the bankrupt financial company Greensill.
Read also: The fall of Greensill, a financial house of cards
Greensill Capital, which specializes in short-term loans, filed for bankruptcy in early March, endangering some of its clients, such as billionaire Sanjeev Gupta's steel empire, GFG Alliance.
Its fall also caused a stir in the British political class because of the role played by David Cameron for the benefit of the company, created by the Australian banker Lex Greensill.
The latter had been hired in Downing Street when David Cameron headed the government (2010-2015) and the British press noted contracts obtained by his company then through policies that he had helped to put in place.
He was notably accused of contacts with members of the government, including the current Minister of Finance Rishi Sunak in favor of Greensill or the Minister of Health Matt Hancock.
"Wrong interpretation"
After weeks of silence, David Cameron reacted in a long statement to the Press Association agency, assuring that he had not violated "
no code of conduct or government rule
".
Having "
however thought
about it at
length
" about this scandal, he admits that "
important lessons must be learned
": "
I recognize, as a former Prime Minister, that communications with the government must take place exclusively through the local channels. more formal, so that there is no room for misinterpretation
”.
Faced with the questioning, the Ministry of Finance published several messages sent last April by Rishi Sunak to David Cameron, where he said in particular to have "pushed his team" to study a request from David Cameron.
A parliamentary lobbying oversight body ruled that the former prime minister, a conservative like Rishi Sunak, did not break any rules by contacting a minister or senior officials directly.
On the other hand, the main Labor official in charge of the economy, Anneliese Dodds, estimated that "the Chancellor's messages to David Cameron raise very serious questions about possible breaches of the ministerial code" by Rishi Sunak.
Read also: Brexit: David Cameron explains himself for history
Greensill had been licensed to issue state-guaranteed government loans under the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) large business program.
The fall of Greensill now puts the GFG Alliance on the brink of insolvency, which employs 5,000 people in the United Kingdom and 35,000 worldwide, with sites in France such as the Ascoval steelworks in Saint-Saulve (north) and the Hayange rail factory (Moselle).