In the latest bizarre twist of the fugitive millionaire’s saga Mr Botnar is suing former Nissan UK director Frank Shannon

In the latest bizarre twist of the fugitive millionaire’s saga, Mr Botnar is suing former Nissan UK director Frank Shannon for more than pounds 500,000 after lending Mr Shannon the money to pay his legal fees.
This caused raised eyebrows yesterday at the Inland Revenue, which issued a warrant for Mr Botnar’s arrest on fraud charges in January 1992, and still has the warrant ready for use if he returns from his home in Switzerland.Mr Shannon, 62, the former financial director and company secretary of Nissan UK, pleaded guilty in 1993 to one charge of cheating the taxman between November 1985 and October 1986.He was given a three-year prison sentence, half of which he served. Particular attention will be paid to the consumer confidence index, the national purchasing managers index and the employment report at the end of the week.. These include worries about the US slide into foreign indebtedness and the possibility that foreign holders of dollars are anxious to diversify out of the greenback.The markets will now be looking closely at US figures in the coming week to see if the run of weak economic data continues. Two-year bond yields slipped below the Federal Funds rate this week, indicating that the market is now discounting a cut in US interest rates.However, the scale and swiftness of the setback to the long-awaited rally suggests that long-term concerns about the dollar remain prominent in investors’ minds. Since Wednesday it has fallen by four yen and by six pfennig against the mark.The immediate reasons cited by dealers for the renewed bearish sentiment against the dollar are new signs that the US economy is slowing down more than expected. Mr Mackinnon is forecasting that the pound will fall to 2DM by the end of the year.As before this year, the pound has been caught in the slipstream of a weakening dollar The rally in the dollar this month has proven short- lived.

Earlier this month, the Bank of England revealed that foreign investors had made large net sales of gilts in the first quarter of the year, “with some investors deterred by what they saw as increased political uncertainty”.
The pound has now retraced most of the gains it made this month after hitting lows in the aftermath of the Chancellor’s decision not to raise interest rates.It is approaching once again its previous lows of 2.1765 against the mark and 82.7 on the trade-weighted index on 9 May. It closed more than 3 pfennigs down at 2.2140 against the German mark, compared with the previous night’s close, and the trade-weighted index also fell sharply from 84.9 to 84.0. Neil Mackinnon, chief currency strategist at Citibank, said the latest fall in the pound was another manifestation of “sterling’s well known political sensitivity”. Political worries following the defeat of the Conservatives in the Perth and Kinross by-election gave the pound another torrid day on the foreign exchanges. “I cannot give you the assurance you seek that we will not undertake the finance of arms to other countries …

it is an important part of our business.” HSBC’s shares fell 14p to 803.5p on dollar weakness and the cautious statement

Photograph: Nicholas Turpin. But chairman Sir William Purves said it could not be held to account for Midland’s Iraqi activities in the 1980s, when it did not own the bank Nor would he promise to quit the arms trade. “There is no evidence that those Hawk aircraft were used there (in East Timor),” he said. “Arms Trade No, Fair Trade Yes” they chanted in a demonstration organised by the World Development Movement. HSBC admitted financing the sale of Hawk trainer aircraft in 1993 to Indonesia, which invaded East Timor 20 years ago. The engine briefly drowned the noise from around 60 peaceful protestors. Other congressmen consider the FDA has little choice but to comply with Gatt standards..