Alleged victims of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) ‘dash for cash’ scandal have been interviewed by police, their lawyers have said.
It follows reports that a secret probe is underway into claims that RBS sent healthy businesses to the wall for profit.
RBS is set to face a class legal action that could run to billions of pounds over the allegations.
The publicly owned bank is accused of trying to boost its income at the expense of viable firms through its Global Restructuring Group (GRG).
An investigation last week alleged that some who had been earmarked for help from RBS were hit with hefty fees and fines and their assets bought up on the cheap.
A number of alleged victims in Scotland have been interviewed as police assess whether or not to launch a full-scale investigation.
James Hayward, managing director of RGL, which is planning to take the legal case, said: “We know a number of potential claimants have been questioned by police.
"We can’t say any more than that.”
RBS admitted last week that "in the aftermath of the financial crisis we did not always meet our own high standards" but said that it had found no evidence that it had "targeted businesses to transfer them to GRG or drove them to insolvency".
A spokesman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said: "'There is currently no active criminal investigation. The Crown will consider any relevant, credible information that meets the standards required for criminal cases."
Meanwhile, reports suggest that the UK Government’s stake in RBS is about to be sharply written down in the public accounts.
Taxpayers bailed out RBS to the tune of £46 billion at the height of the financial crisis in 2008.
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