The biggest fines in British maritime history were handed down to a group of Spanish fishermen on Thursday, for illegal fishing in UK waters.

 Photograph: Robert Ghement/EPA

Some of the biggest fines in British maritime history were handed down to a group of Spanish fishermen on Thursday, for illegal fishing in UK waters.

Two companies owned by the Vidal family were fined £1.62m in total in a Truro court, after a two-day hearing, in which details emerged of falsified log books, failing to register the transfer of fish between vessels, false readings given for weighing fish at sea, and fiddling of fishing quotas.

Judge Graham Cottle said the family were guilty of "wholesale falsification of official documentation" that amounted to a "systematic, repeated and cynical abuse of the EU fishing quota system over a period of 18 months".

He said: "[This was a] flagrant, repeated and long term abuse of regulations. The fish targeted [hake] was at that time a species of fish on the verge if collapse and adherence to quotas was seen as crucial to the survival of the species."

The Spanish fishing vessels had been sailing under UK flags and were landing fish based on quotas given to British fishermen under the EU's common fisheries policy. Two vessels were involved, but the companies own several other large vessels, capable of industrial-scale fishing.

The offending fishermen, who admitted their guilt earlier this year, were not in court to hear him, having been given leave to return to Spain last night. The offences, dating from 2009 and 2010, relate to two companies, Hijos De Vidal Bandin SA and Sealskill Limited, both owned by the Vidal family. They were fined £925,000 on a confiscation order, plus £195,000 in costs, and an additional fine of £250,000 levied on each of the two companies. Two skippers who were acting under the family's instructions were fined £5,000 each.

Ariana Densham, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, who was present for the trial and judgement, said that the fines, while welcome, did not go far enough. "This group of people should never be allowed near UK fishing quota again," she said. "The Vidal's right to fish should be removed completely."

She said the offences showed the vulnerability of the EU's fishing quota system to fraud. "The system that allowed this to happen needs to be fixed," she said. "This case is not a one off. It's a symptom of Europe's farcical fishing rules. The Vidals were permitted to fish under UK flags, using UK quota, and receive huge EU subsidies, with none of the proceeds ever feeding back into the UK economy. The system is skewed in favour of rich, powerful, industrial-scale fishing companies, when really it should be supporting low-impact, sustainable fishermen."

There are currently moves under way in Brussels by the fisheries commissioner, Maria Damanaki, to reform the EU's common fisheries policy. The proposed reforms – which include the ending of the wasteful practice of discarding healthy and edible fish at sea – have met stiff opposition, particularly from the French and Spanish fishing industries. Spain has the biggest fishing fleet in Europe and receives the lion's share of the subsidies available for fishing within the EU. A historic agreement was reached among member states last month on the proposals, but they must now pass the European parliament, which is expected to consider the proposals later this year.

Libor scandal: two London traders suspended from Mitsubishi

The traders, named as Christian Schluep and Paul Robson by sources, are thought to have been suspended two weeks ago on questions of their action when they worked at the Dutch bank. The suspensions are the latest advance of the investigation being conducted by regulators in Britain, America, Canada, Europe and Japan into supicions that the Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) has been repeatedly rigged. Rabobank is a member of the panel that sets Libor, the rate at which banks will lend to each other and which underlies financial contracts from mortgages to complex derivatives. A spokesman for Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group in London could not be reached but it understood the probe does not relate to the traders’ work for at BTMU, the commercial banking unit of the the Japanese bank. A spokeswoman told Reuters: “We continue to co-operate fully with various authorities’ investigations ... The suspension of these two individuals is not connected with their conduct at BTMU.”

Regulators Charge Futures Brokerage Firm With Fraud

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday charged a futures firm and its chief executive with fraud and making false statements after nearly $200 million in customer funds went missing. The regulator is seeking a restraining order against the Peregrine Financial Group, also called P.F.G., to prevent the destruction of any information that may be needed in the course of the investigation. The C.F.T.C. is also asking a federal court to appoint a receiver for the firm and freeze its assets. A day earlier, the chairman and chief executive, Russell Wasendorf Sr., tried to commit suicide outside of the firm’s offices in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the matter, according to a spokeswoman for the Omaha office, Sandy Breault. Ms. Breault indicated that the Chicago office of the agency might also get involved. News of the missing money surfaced Monday, when the firm’s primary regulator, the National Futures Association, determined that an account that was supposed to have $225 million of customer money actually held just $5 million. A further review of records showed that the firm had been falsifying its records as far back as 2010, the regulator said in its complaint. In February 2010, an account that purported to have some $218 million in reality contained just $10 million. “P.F.G. and Wasendorf have used customer funds for purposes other than those intended by its customers, and consequently, have misappropriated these funds,” the complaint states. “The whereabouts of the funds is currently unknown.” How the money came to be siphoned off from customer accounts remains a mystery, particularly in the wake of increased scrutiny on the futures industry after the collapse of MF Global. Article Tools FACEBOOK TWITTER GOOGLE+ EMAIL SHARE PRINT Related Links The news release The complaint After the fiasco at MF Global, which left customers missing more than $1 billion, regulators vowed to ensure the safety of customer money. Both the N.F.A. and the C.F.T.C. conducted reviews of futures firms to reassure investors. The regulators granted them all clean bills of health. P.F.G. is a well-known firm in the tight-knit community of futures brokerage firm. Mr. Wasendorf was considered by many to be a pioneer of the industry, having been registered with the C.F.T.C. since 1992. He fully owned P.F.G., and his son, Russell Wasendorf Jr., served as president of the company. On Monday, the N.F.A., which is an industry self-regulator, moved to halt operations at the firm immediately after discovering the shortfall. In a report filed late Monday, the National Futures Association said that bank statements from U.S. Bank, where customer money was held, could have been fabricated.

Serious Fraud Office launches Libor investigation

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has confirmed that it has formally launched a criminal investigation into the rigging of inter-bank lending rates. Earlier this week, it said it was considering whether prosecutions would be possible. An SFO spokesperson confirmed that a dedicated case team had now started work. Its involvement follows an investigation by US and UK regulators into the manipulation of Libor. That resulted in a record fine for Barclays, who last week agreed to pay £290m in penalties after its traders tried to rig inter-bank lending rates, sometimes working with staff at other financial institutions. Regulators are continuing to look into possible rate manipulation at other banks, while the US Department of Justice is carrying out its own criminal investigations. The SFO would not say whom it is investigating. Its short statement said only: "The SFO Director David Green QC has today decided formally to accept the Libor matter for investigation." Continue reading the main story Serious Fraud Office Independent government agency established in 1988 Deals with complex, high value fraud cases Average length of case is 4-6 years Carries out investigations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, this is done by the Crown Office's Serious and Organised Crime Division The Libor affair, described by the prime minister as a scandal, has led to the resignation of three of Barclays' most senior executives in a matter of days, including chief executive Bob Diamond. He appeared before MPs on the Treasury Select Committee this week, when he called the behaviour of those responsible for Libor rigging at the bank "reprehensible". Regulators in the UK and the US found that Barclays staff had tried to affect rates over a number of years, first for profit and then to reduce concerns about how much it was being affected by the financial crisis. The SFO is responsible for investigating allegations of serious and complex frauds. It considers whether to prosecute using a number of criteria, including whether it is a matter of public concern, and whether the value of any fraud is more than £1m.