Cyprotex three to trigger appeal

THE three men fined £1.15m last month by the Financial Services Authority for market abuse after the Cyprotex flotation plan to use the appeals procedure that is likely to end in a Government appeal tribunal open to the public.

Cyprotex was allowed by the FSA today to reveal a letter sent in May that the regulatory authority has discontinued its probe into the drug-testing software firm.

The company was floated in February 2002 at £26.2m but it emerged the float went ahead only because it was underpinned by £5m spread bet placed with City Index by Paul Davidson, who held a 35% stake in Cyprotex.

Davidson was fined £750,000 but he refuses to pay, saying City institutions escaped unscathed, though he believed the FSA's ruling correct. Nigel Howe, a broker, was fined £300,000 and Ashley Tatham, a former director at City Index, £100,000.