Thursday paper round-up: Budget verdict, FSA raids, Rio Tinto

25th Mar 2010 06:29

Alistair Darling combined a raid on the rich with the theft of Conservative ideas in a highly political Budget yesterday that postponed the pain of spending cuts until well after polling day. Faced with a record deficit and an election expected in six weeks' time, the Chancellor delivered a no-frills financial statement that made a virtue of necessity, the Times writes.The Telegraph adds that just weeks before the country is due to go to the polls, the Chancellor warned the well off that they must pay their "fair share". Such is the scale of public debt, which Mr Darling forecast would rise to £1.4trn in the next five years, he was unable to announce substantial tax breaks or giveaways aimed at attracting voters.High earners face a series of tax rises in just over a week's time - or from next April if they are buying a million-pound property - in spite of no new tax rates being announced in the Budget. While the chancellor confirmed that: "I have no further announcements on VAT, on income tax, or National Insurance rates", increases announced in last year's Budget and pre-Budget report take effect from April 6 this year and next - affecting individuals with six-figure incomes, the FT reports.A seventh man has been arrested in London as part of the Financial Services Authority and Serious Organised Crime Agency's joint raids against what they allege is the largest City insider trading ring yet investigated. The arrest of the as yet unnamed man came as The Daily Telegraph identified Iraj Parvizi , 44, a Mayfair-based businessman and director of Romford-based fund Aria Capital, as the fifth man implicated in the FSA investigation,The Deutsche Bank executive arrested on Tuesday over alleged insider dealing advised the Government on financial stability at the height of the financial crisis, The Times has learnt. Martyn Dodgson, a managing director in Deutsche's corporate broking division, is understood to have been part of the Deutsche team that advised the Treasury and UK Financial Investments last year on capital raising for the Lloyds Banking Group, which allowed the taxpayer-backed lender to pull out of the Asset Protection Scheme.The Serious Fraud Office said yesterday that it was "assessing" the case of the four Rio Tinto executives whose bribery and espionage trial closed in Shanghai yesterday, and whether their guilty pleas warranted an investigation in the UK. A verdict in the case in China could take a number of weeks. Three of the four Rio employees, including an Australian national, Stern Hu, have pleaded guilty to accepting bribes, the Independent reports.Sainsbury's blamed the wider slowdown in the grocery sector for its weakest quarterly sales increase in five years, but said it was ramping up the coupons it offers customers in an attempt to boost trading. Britain's biggest supermarkets have previously attributed lower sales growth to declining food prices but yesterday the Sainsbury's chief executive, Justin King, cited a recent slowdown in consumer spending, the Independent reports.The managing director of British Gas was awarded a 15% rise in total pay last year to £1.249m, according to figures published in the company's annual report. News of Phil Bentley's salary and bonus package, which increased from £1.089 million in 2008, unleashed a furious response from unions, which this week voted for industrial action at British Gas over allegations of "macho" management under Mr Bentley, the Times reports.Guy Hands won a significant round in his fight against Citigroup last night after a US court said that the financier's legal dispute with the bank would play out in New York and not in London. The decision means that a New York jury will hear the lawsuit brought by Terra Firma, Mr Hands' private equity company, against Citigroup, which ? advised on and financed his £4bn acquisition of EMI, the struggling British record label, the Times reports.