Railtrack chief: Byers misled MPs

Stephen Byers is today virtually accused of lying to Parliament over events which led to Railtrack's financial collapse.

The Transport Secretary told MPs yesterday that John Robinson, Railtrack's chairman, had told him at a meeting on 25 July that unless the Government gave the company more money, he (Mr Robinson) would not be able to say in a November statement that Railtrack was a going concern.

Mr Robinson, however, repeatedly said today that his recollection of the meeting "is different from that".

Mr Byers told MPs that Railtrack directors knew the financial situation they were facing.

He said: "The chairman came to me on 25 July and said, 'If you don't give me more money, I cannot make a statement on 8 November (the day of Railtrack's interim results) that we are a going concern'. "What did he tell his shareholders? That's right, nothing. Not a word to his shareholders."

Mr Robinson, however, said: "I did not say that to Mr Byers."

Following the Government-forced administration of Railtrack, the share price collapsed - with the result that thousands of shareholders have lost their money. The issue is whether the Government had decided to force Railtrack into administration before it made the formal announcement last month. If it did, it would lay itself open to accusations that it had allowed a "false market" in share-dealing to develop.

Mr Robinson, speaking on the BBC's Today programme, said: "Of course, it is a nice try to deflect the issue from the real one - which is whether he was running a false market, carrying out plans knowingly to take away shareholders out of Railtrack."

Mr Robinson was reminded on the programme that Mr Byers had told the Commons yesterday that at their July meeting Mr Robinson had said that unless particular arrangements were made by the Government, he would not be able to tell shareholders on 8 November that Railtrack was a going concern.

"Mr Byers stated that as a fact. You are saying that he was not telling the truth," it was suggested to Mr Robinson. He replied: "No, I am saying that my recollection is totally different from that." Mr Robinson said Railtrack is now taking part in an inquiry launched by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Railtrack also said it wanted a fully independent inquiry to take place into all the events surrounding the company's forced administration. This would be in addition and separate from the inquiry already announced by the FSA.

A Railtrack spokesman said today: "If everyone is confident of what they are saying then they will have no objection to taking part in this inquiry."

Opposition leader Iain Duncan Smith today sought to maximise the Government's embarrassment over Railtrack's collapse in a speech to business leaders at the CBI conference in Birmingham.

He claimed businesses could not trust the Government after its treatment of the company, saying: "After the Railtrack debacle, how many of you would want to deal with a Government that expects you to take all the risks but is prepared to dump on you the minute anything goes wrong?"

Nobody, he said, could "trust the Government to keep to the deal after they have ripped off some 250,000 shareholders of Railtrack".

Arriving at the CBI conference today, Mr Byers said: "I made two statements to the House of Commons on 15 October and one yesterday where I set out factually what did happen.

"I saw John Robinson on 25 July. At that meeting he told me that unless there was additional government money he would not be able to make a going concern statement on 8 October. That is what happened."

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