The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is looking into allegations of insider dealing in the shares of Carillion before the construction firm's spectacular collapse.
The investigation relates to dealings before the firm's first profit warning in July of last year.
READ: Carillion shares plunge as it warns on full year revenue and chief executive departs
It is the second investigation of Carillion by the FCA this year; the City watchdog had previously notified Carillion at the start of 2018 that it had commenced an investigation in connection with the timeliness and content of announcements made by Carillion between 7 December 2016 and 10 July 2017.
Just one civil servant monitors the performance of 700 PFI contracts. This Government is sleepwalking from one disaster to another. It’s time they ended their obsession with #outsourcing #Carillion pic.twitter.com/i83dA8dBHh
— Jon Trickett (@jon_trickett) June 27, 2018
Andrew Bailey, the boss of the FCA, wrote in a letter to Labour MP Frank Field last July, “We are aware of allegations of insider trading in Carillion’s shares prior to its trading update on July 10 2017 and are looking into them.”
Field, who was co-chairman of a House of Commons committee enquiry into the implosion of Carillion, has made the revelation public.
READ: Carillion’s 'delusional directors' drove the firm off a cliff, MPs claim
Field is also chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, which has been taking a close interest in the Carillion pension scheme.
TPR could go after Carillion’s former directors “for everything they’ve got”: legal analysis indicates that the Contribution Notices issued by TPR to recover money it considers is owed to a company pension scheme can potentially "trump" limited liability https://t.co/zhMAZ8CXq7
— Work & Pensions Committee (@CommonsWorkPen) June 25, 2018