MPs HAVE called for an investigation into the behaviour of senior bankers at Bradford and Bingley and Northern Rock.
A total of 18 MPs have signed a hard-hitting parliamentary motion blaming "reckless overtrading by banks" and "their establishment of special purpose companies to evade regulations" for causing the financial crisis.
The motion calls on the Crown P
rosecution Service and the city regulator, the Financial Services Authority, to launch a probe into the actions of senior bankers at both B&B and Northern Rock, which has also been nationalised.
It urges the two bodies to "co-operate in investigating possible complicity of senior employees of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley banks in trading that was irresponsible and possibly illegal".
B&B, whose roots can be traced back more than 150 years, was taken into public ownership last month.
Since becoming a bank in 2000, B&B changed its business model and began diversifying into far more risky areas of business.
More than 80 per cent of its mortgages are to amateur landlords or people who "self-certify" their income and do not need to provide any proof of their pay.The EDM has been tabled by Labour backbencher Paul Flynn and supported by Elmet Labour MP Colin Burgon and Harrogate and Knaresborough Liberal Democrat MP Phil Willis.
It notes that "unlike in the United States, no bankers in the United Kingdom have been investigated for possible criminal actions in the selling of sub-prime mortgages and other toxic financial products."
Mr Flynn revealed that Prime Minister Gordon Brown referred to B&B during a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party earlier this week.
He said: "The big shock about all this is that members of the Bradford & Bingley board were not aware of where their money was being invested.
"It was said by the Prime Minister at a meeting on Monday that not only have members of the board not known what was going on, but Bradford & Bingley had committed itself to buying these sub-prime mortgages for the next three years."
Mr Burgon added: "Banks and building societies never let ordinary savers get away with anything, likewise they should live by this rule.
The YEP yesterday called the B&B press office but was told to call the Treasury. The Treasury did not provide a comment.
Bradford & Bingley's £40bn in mortgages and loans has been nationalised, while Spanish bank Santander has taken over the £22.2bn savings business and branch network.
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