Scandal at NAB: three more charged

THREE more foreign exchange traders have been charged for their part in losing National Australia Bank A$360m (£140m). Regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission today charged Luke Duffy and Gianni Gray with using their positions dishonestly to gain advantage. Vince Ficarra is charged with obtaining financial advantage by deception. The case goes to court on 25 January.

David Bullen, who was charged in connection with the losses last month, now also faces an additional charge similar to the one against Ficarra.

Using a position dishonestly to gain financial advantage is an offence that carries a maximum five-year jail term. Obtaining financial advantage by deception carries a maximum 10-year jail term.

Bullen, a recent convert to Buddhism and increasingly known for his eccentricity as much as for his alleged part in the scandal, has said he would be "happy as anything' to spend the next 20 years in jail.

NAB owns the Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks in Britain and is in the process of selling the National Irish and Northern banks to Denmark's Danske Bank for £967m.