The Maxwell questions.. .
SO MUCH for the Maxwell boys taking charge. The banks had taken charges, and now they have taken control. The tough and experienced John Melbourn of Nation- al Westminster is chairman of the bankers' committee — he is not a man to shut a business that can be saved, but his chief executive says of him that he has the most sensitive shoulder-blades in the business. They must have been twitching. They will have given him answers to some of the tact- less questions I have been asking. Was the transaction (I asked) which so annoyed the Swiss — shares borrowed, then pledged, then somehow not available — the only one of its kind? Had any more pairs of cufflinks been popped more than once? Were the pension funds up to proof? Had they been lending stock or money to anyone? Did anyone who is still around know what was going on? Even a week ago, confidence was the public watchword and it suited no-one to have these questions asked out loud, but they have forced themselves to the surface.
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