Fred Clough, the disgraced finance director of collapsed trade finance house Versailles, lied to his board that he had cancer to cover up his false accounting, a jury heard yesterday.
Mr Clough told other directors, including Carl Cushnie, the company's founder who also faces fraud charges, that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer after they questioned him over accounts that he had neglected to sign off. The incident helped Mr Clough hide his fraud from other employees and the authorities for an extra three years, Mr Cushnie's barrister, Alexander Cameron QC, told Southwark Crown Court, as he concluded his defence of the former chairman and chief executive.
Mr Cushnie denies that he helped Mr Clough inflate turnover figures at the company, which lent money to small firms having trouble securing credit from banks.
