Ex Royal Bank Chairman McKillop says Myners knew of huge Goodwin pension

Another round of accusations as to who told what to whom and when and who actually took it in or not … this time its back to the Sir Fred Goodwin pension caper, which netted the former RBS boss £703,000 a year pension … despite the bank collapsing around his ears and having to be bailed out by the British taxpayer.

BBC News reports :

Ex RBS chair insists Myners knew

Former RBS chairman Sir Tom McKillop has said City Minister Lord Myners was fully briefed about former chief Sir Fred Goodwin's pension arrangements.

There was no "elaborate ruse" to reward Sir Fred Goodwin, Sir Tom said.

"Each element of the proposed terms of departure" were discussed with Lord Myners, "including the pension", he added.

Lord Myners earlier insisted he had not been involved in negotiating Sir Fred's pension arrangements.

Sir Tom's comments followed Lord Myners' testimony to the Treasury Committee over Sir Fred's £703,000 pension.

Sir Fred left "at the request of the company with his full contractual entitlement" because of the need for a "consensual departure", Sir Tom said in a letter to the Treasury Committee.

'Full disclosure'

Sir Tom said in his letter that the he and Bob Scott, the senior independent director, made a "full disclosure" of Sir Fred's compensation to Lord Myners.

"Mr Scott is certain that he discussed each element of the proposed terms of departure set out in the remuneration paper, including the pension," Sir Tom said.

Lord Myners earlier this month told the Treasury select committee that he did know the value of Sir Fred's pension in October, insisting that he was not privy to "the thinking of the remuneration committee or members of that committee of RBS".

In his letter, Sir Tom said: "I must emphasise that there was no "elaborate ruse" by myself and Mr Scott to give Sir Fred any more than he was contractually entitled to and that we and, I believe, all the directors acted in what we judged to be the best interests of the shareholders, including the Government."

Sir Fred took early retirement from RBS last year after the bank needed a £20bn bailout from the government. The payout has been widely condemned.

Sir Fred's Edinburgh home was attacked by vandals last week.