Abbey death: police study Kroll tapes

POLICE investigating the death of Abbey National employee Richard Chang have been given a tape recording of his interview with private investigators just before he fell from a fifth-floor balcony at the bank's central London headquarters.

Kroll, the private investigation agency that conducted the interview for Abbey, is said to be convinced the tape will prove that investigators acted properly and did not put undue pressure on Chang, 48.

A source close to the investigation, who has seen a transcript of the recording said it shows that Chang largely refused to answer questions put by the two Kroll agents.

Kroll was called in by Abbey after anonymous documents were sent to the bank's chief executive, Luqman Arnold, alleging corruption in the awarding of IT contracts.

An internal inquiry by Abbey, which is being taken over by Spain's Banco Santander, concluded that the allegations were false. The bank appointed Kroll to unearth the identity of the person who circulated the document.

Chang, an IT worker, was at the head of a list of four possible suspects handed to Kroll by Abbey.

He was interviewed on July 13 by two Kroll employees, former policeman Howard Jones and Peter Pender-Cudlip, deputy head of business intelligence and investigations. Pender-Cudlip is now a partner at a new investigations firm, Grayson Pender Wordsworth.

Chang fell from the balcony less than an hour after his interview while investigators were questioning his manager, Vincent Santeng. Santeng was also on the list of staff handed to Kroll.

An inquest into Chang's death has been adjourned pending the police investigation.

Chang's family is understood to have hired solicitors to investigate his death. Neither Kroll nor Abbey would comment on the Chang case.