THE alleged embezzlement of funds by an employee at a Gordon Brown-backed think tank set up to promote good banking behaviour is being investigated by City of London police.
It is understood the International Centre for Financial Regulation (ICFR), funded by the tax payer, has suspended a member of its management after discovering money had disappeared.
The ICFR was reported at the weekend to have told backers it would shut unless it could get the cash back. The organisation received £450,000 funding from Vince Cable’s business department last year and £333,333 from the City of London Corporation.
Corporate sponsors of the centre, whose chairman is Lord Currie of Marylebone, include Aviva, Barclays, HSBC and Prudential.
The then-chancellor Brown and Ed Balls, now shadow chancellor, created the ICFR in 2007 with the stated task of fostering Britain’s “principles-based” approach to regulation. The Northern Rock crash happened later that year, and the centre began operating in June 2008, four months before the bailouts of HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Brown is not believed to have any continuing involvement in the ICFR.