How Uk Taxpayers could lose hundreds of millions. This is one of the worst lobbying and political scandals in the past 20 years. And how David Cameron pocketed a fortune. This is the story of a former british Prime Minister, and a dodgy scheme that could cost investors billions. It starts in the german town of bremen. Ive come here to investigate a bankjob. This used to be the headquarters of greensill bank, until it went bust earlier this year. The banks offices, and the homes of its former bosses, have been raided by police. Billions of euros of savers� cash looks to have been lost. Welcome to the greensill bank. 19705 architecture, isnt it . Yes, i think so, yes, you are right. Local journalist Florian Schwiegershausen has been on the case. The regulator had a supervisor in the bank, and they had enough informations to say, theres something wrong here, and we think whats going wrong here is cheating the balance sheet. And, just to be clear, is that criminal . Of course thats criminal. Yes, yes. The allegations are denied, and the banks managers reject any suggestion of wrongdoing. But as much as £2. 5 Billion may have been lost. The bank was part of a british based investment company, Greensill Capital. The future is coming fast. Greensill is already there. It also went bust in march. Investors stand to lose a further £2 billion. Greensill changing finance to change the world. It was set up by Lex Greensill. Let me be honest with you this is not the clothes that l i would want to wear every day. Im actually a farmer. When lex would talk about his company, and what it was doing, it was all about providing finance to small businesses, you know. I grew up seeing how tough it was for my mum and dad| to get paid for the crops that they grew. It was all about the fact, you know, the banks are only financing these large companies, and were bringing it to the little guys. Greensill made loans to businesses that were waiting to be paid for goods and services they had supplied to customers. But it didnt use its own cash. The money for the loans was raised from investors. And Lex Greensill brought in a famous friend to help drum up business. Lex greenhill, where are you . Lex, give us a wave. Lex greensill had worked for David Cameron in Downing Street. I think my only claim to fame is being the only boy from bundaberg ever to have an office at number 10 Downing Street here in london. Two years after cameron left office, the former pm went to work for Greensill Capital. There had already been allegations in the press about some of greensill� s investment schemes. There are lots of ways in which greensill was effectively like a dodgy, second Hand Car Salesman for the finance industry. If youre going to sell cars for a dodgy second Hand Car Salesman, you ask where these cars come from, and you ask if they work. You know, thats the bottom line. And if cameron didnt ask those questions, then we need to be asking him why. David cameron was paid 1 Million a year by Greensill Capital as a part time adviser. There were perks, too. David cameron travelled the world to promote greensill, on luxurious private jets. These are the Flight Logs for the companys planes, and they include many of the places the pm went to promote the company. Switzerland, australia, singapore, the usa, saudi arabia. The list goes on. This wasnt a passive role that David Cameron played in the company. He was sort of an emissary of influence, flying around the world, sort of dazzling the great and good, on Lex Greensills behalf. With David Cameron on board, Greensill Capital attracted billions from investors. Their money was supposed to be safe, because the investments were backed up by unpaid invoices. Investors thought they would get their money back with interest when the invoices were eventually paid. This is supposed to be one of the the Lowestl Risk kinds of financing that exists anywhere. Its, you know, backed by real transactions. There are real goods and Real Invoices changing hands. Its supposed to be very, very safe. Greensill teamed up with the swiss Bank Credit Suisse and raised 10 Billion from its customers. It was the Banks Job to market and sell the greensill investments, and to inform investors about potential risks. These are some of the marketing materials that were given to investors. It describes the loans as low risk, and says they are backed up by invoices. It looked a very safe bet. And if that wasnt enough to convince investors, David Cameron had given Greensill Capital his personal seal of approval. Having an ex Prime Minister is a great way to open doors. He played a really crucial role in getting greensill in front of the right sort of people, which meant that they could get access to more money, more funding, big investors. And in the end, it turns out the company was clearly very, very problematic. The problem was the invoices. While most were real, some simply didnt exist, so they could never be paid. Investors didnt know, and billions of dollars of their cash had been put at risk. This is bluestone resources. Its a coal company, owned by the governor of west virginia, jim justice ii. Ive had the great opportunity to be with our president. Hes well known for failing to pay his debts on time. We will pay every single thing, and i cant say that we wont be late to a party from time to time, but well get it all done. Despite the governors reputation, greensill made huge loans to his companies. Most of the cash was raised from Credit Suisse investors. They thought the loans were backed up by Real Invoices. But a Court Case earlier this year revealed they werent. Bluestone claims greensill simply asked it to identify firms that could potentially buy bluestone� s coal in the future. They were only predicted coal sales. Greensill lent bluestone 780 Million against sales that might never happen. Investors thought there were invoices locked away as security for these loans. But the invoices simply didnt exist. Ive gone through some of the presentations to these fund investors, and its all about, you know, this is a safe form of financing, and, you know, these invoices get paid in 90 days, and we collect them. You know, i havent seen a slide in those decks, saying, oh, and by the way, were also lending against future hypothetical invoices, which might come from prospective customers the companies dont even have. Lex greensill told panorama. He said the predicted sales were future receivables, which are commonplace in the financial services market. He said they were all based upon future trade that is likely to occur with current customers. But weve discovered thats not true. So, youre nrg, youre an energy company, arent you . Weve obtained the names of the companies that Lex Greensill said were current customers of bluestone. This coal company, called bluestone, west virginia, sold coal to nrg. Have you checked your records . These firms were supposedly due to buy tens of millions of dollars of bluestone coal. You havent purchased any coalfrom bluestone, and you dont have an ongoing Business Relationship . Thank you very much, david. Grateful to you. Thank you. Six of the companies told us they werent current customers of bluestone, and they werent planning to buy its coal in the future. So its quite clear some of these companies werent customers of bluestone. They werent expected future invoices. They were simply made up. It looks like investors have been conned. Lex greensill has now told panorama the Coal Buyers didnt have to be current customers. Bluestone only had to state it expected to make the sales at some future point, and greensill was not obliged to make checks. He said his company made all the appropriate disclosures to Credit Suisse. And the swiss bank was solely responsible for making any disclosures to their investors. He said the loans were always Secured Against Assets and personal guarantees, and were backed up by insurance. He expects. But we understand Greensill Capitals main Insurer Wont pay out on imaginary invoices that were never likely to exist. Investors are expecting huge losses. We think its very unlikely that the Insurance Company will provide coverage in case of default. Simply because these are not real invoice, but prospective invoices. Its likely that they will lose around us 2. 5 Billion for all the Credit Suisse investors. Credit suisse says its focus is on returning cash to investors and that 59 has been returned so far. But why did greensill lend other Peoples Money against non existent invoices in the first place . The simple answer is money. On the Bluestone Deal alone, Court Documents say 108 Million was directly paid back to Greensill Capital in cash in the form of fees. Greensill was a sort of Growth Company and that meant bigger and bigger and bigger fees. The more it could show that every year it got more and more revenue, the more greensills own valuation would get higher and higher and higher. And everybody who had shares in greensill, including Lex Greensill, and David Cameron, would get richer and richer and richer. By 2020, almost two thirds of Greensill Capitals income was based on invoices that didnt exist. And David Cameron was profiting from the dodgy loans. Mr Camerons Spokesman told us hed carried out adequate Due Diligence beforejoining greensill. He wasnt a director of greensill and had no Executive Or Board responsibilities whatsoever. But David Cameron attended Board Meetings he had the opportunity to find out what was going on. And there was a problem at greensill he has acknowledged he did know about. It had lent too much of the investors� cash to one Man Steel Magnate sanjeev gutpta. Ceo Awards Announcer youre the man behind britains industrial revival, so how does it feel to pickj up the Award Tonight . Im not the man. Theres 5,000 Men And Women behind this. About half a decade ago he sort of burst on the scene, he says, other people are running away from this industry. You know, people are firing people. � m not gonna do that. Im gonna buy all these companies, im not gonna fire, you know, a single person in some cases, and im gonna make them magically profitable and at the same time im gonna make them green. Mr Guptas Business the Gfg Alliance . Now employs 35,000 people around the world. Including more than 4,000 at Steel Mills in the uk. Hes become a key player in one of our most important industries. Its so remarkable what Mr Gupta has achieved here in ensuring a future for this steel mill. He grew his business by borrowing 5 Billion dollars from Greensill Capital. Once again, the cash came from investors who thought their money was secured against Real Invoices. But once again, that wasnt always true. We have discovered that greensill allowed 11 of Mr Guptas companies to borrow against invoices that didnt exist. Another gfg company, Liberty Commodities, was supposed to provide actual invoices for sales that had already happened. But earlier this year, it was reported that six of the invoices might be forgeries. These invoices, they say, you know, sanjeev Guptas Company sold this amount of metal to this company on this date, you know, Black And White its pretty clear. We contacted some of these companies and many of them said, weve never traded with sanjeev gupta. You know, not even that this specific invoice is incorrect, sort of, weve never done business with him at all. Sanjeev gupta said the story was misleading and damaging. But panorama has obtained more invoices his company submitted to greensill. Liberty commodities is not a Trading Partner of yours . Youve never heard of them . I called the customers to see if they really did business with Liberty Commodities. You would never purchase 12 Million of nickel . Youd never do that . 0k. And youve never heard of Liberty Commodities . Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. Bye. So, that was about as clear as it could be. Theyd never heard of Liberty Commodities. We checked 12 invoices . And all of the supposed customers hadnt bought anything. The invoices are fake. It looks like evidence of fraud. Sanjeev Guptas Company Gfg Alliance told us. The company says it has worked tirelessly to stabilise the businesses affected, repay creditors and create a sustainable future for its Uk Businesses. Lex greensill says his company was never aware of, nor conspired in the trade of, fictional invoices. And the responsibility for submitting true documentation rested squarely with the client, not greensill. He said Credit Suisse was aware that greensill had no responsibility to verify any invoices. Investors lending billions had no Idea Invoices werent even checked. If youre Lending Money against the value of an invoice, if there are any issues with that invoice, you might not be able to get the money back. So, its absolutely critical that you do the work to understand whether or not that invoice is real. In 2020, the wheels started to come off. Sanjeev guptas Gfg Alliance companies were in trouble. Weve discovered Greensill Capital knew . Because gfg was failing to make payments on its loans. Instead of raising the alarm, greensill kept quiet, and used its own cash to cover Repayments Gfg Couldnt afford. Weve seen an email that shows how worried a Greensill Finance Officer was about these unusual payments. Investors had no idea how dangerous the situation had become. In may 2020, the Finance Officer waves a clear red flag. They send this email suggesting an Insolvency Practitioner should be sent in to review mr Guptas Businesses. They say. It may well be that administration is required. Lex greensill denied being aware of a recommendation to send in an Insolvency Practitioner. But he didnt deny that he was warned by staff to stop lending to gfg. Greensill capital continued making the loans anyway. The whole financial system is geared up to make sure that if somebody is defaulting on their loans they arent given more money the Business Practice whereby you are trying to sell on debt, when you know that there is something that is going wrong at the very base of the pyramid, is not ethical Business Practice. I think everybody will be completely clear on that. So guptas companies were in deep financial trouble. And greensill knew it. But instead of pulling the plug, greensill was looking for a new investor. The uk government. And David Cameron was sent in to get the cash. The former Prime Minister sent 56 messages lobbying ministers and senior civil servants. He wanted the Bank Of England to invest more than £10 Billion of Taxpayers Cash in greensills loans. I think one mp described it as effectively like stalking. I mean, this was over a period of four months, that he was sending whatsapp messages, emails. But i think its the tone with which he lobbied, as well. There was a kind of mix of chumminess. You know, love dc, in his texts. But also a kind of bossiness, and you know, this is bonkers. Im going to go to the chancellor. The Bank Of England turned greensill down. But the government did allow it to make Emergency Coronavirus loans, backed by a taxpayer guarantee. Greensill made eight loans of £50 million each. All eight went to companies associated with sanjeev gupta. And they have all failed to make their repayments. The Government Guarantee has been suspended while the loans are investigated. But thats being challenged and the taxpayer could still lose £320 million. Scandalous. The reason i say scandalous is because as far as im aware No Other Prime Minister in modern times has felt it appropriate to act in this way, resulting in the Tax Payer being on the hook for hundreds of millions of pounds. David Camerons Spokesman said he had no knowledge of gfgs financial situation. He made representations to the government because he sincerely believed there would be a Material Benefit for Uk Businesses at a challenging time. And two westminster inquiries have confirmed that he broke no rules. Sanjeev Guptas Company Gfg Alliance, and its Financing Arrangements with Greensill Capital, are now being investigated by the serious fraud office. Gfg alliance told us it takes the Sfo Investigation seriously and wont be commenting further while its ongoing. 0ur Evidence suggests investors have been misled. Huge sums were invested in invoices that didnt exist. If youre taking somebody� s money, and youre putting it into an investment, into an asset, then you should be open and honest and transparent about what that is. And in this case they were saying it was one thing but, actually, it was something else. Investors are facing billions in losses. But Lex Greensill isnt short of cash. He took at least 40 millionout of his company . And his Family Trust took millions more. The former Prime Minister also had a bumper payday. Weve obtained a Greensill Document that suggests David Cameron pocketed 4. 5 million after cashing in Greensill Shares in 2019. Before tax . Including his Salary And Bonus it looks like he made around 10 Million for two and a half Years Part time work. Mr Camerons Spokesman told us his remuneration was a private matter, and he wouldnt comment further. It was all about making money. And i think the danger is that cameron looks like he just saw the dollar signs, and didnt ask any questions. 0ur former Prime Minister promoted greensill. Now, investors and Uk Taxpayers could face huge losses. But David Cameron and his friend are still sitting pretty