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On Monday 10 April, BBC Panorama investigated the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) rigging scandal. The programme presented new evidence confirming that the Bank of England was directly involved in ordering 16 banks to operate as a cartel by lowering their interest rates in unison.

But Panorama failed to name senior politicians at the heart of the scandal. Including most notably former Chancellor George Osborne, who controlled the flow of funding to investigate the scandal. And even David Cameron may be implicated.

This article is part one of a two-part series.

How much did Osborne know?

In 2012, parliament revealed that Osborne had a “secret veto” over Serious Fraud Office (SFO) financial crime investigations. Because the Treasury had to authorise SFO investigations that went over budget. But the Treasury could keep its decisions secret. Meaning it could say ‘no’ to any SFO request without any public and parliamentary scrutiny.

But this secret veto came at the same time as SFO budget cuts. So, as Labour said at the time:

Ministers have now become the final arbiters of which major financial crimes are investigated as a result of 25% cuts to the SFO’s budget over the past three years…

One such investigation by the SFO has been the LIBOR scandal. It has led to financial regulators fining Barclays, RBS and others more than £6bn.

But Osborne is not the only Conservative that Panorama forgot to mention.