Last Updated: 7:01AM GMT 19 Jan 2009
The past lending practices of RBS – of which the taxpayer now holds a majority share – have emerged as a particular concern.
Senior Government figures are said to have been infuriated to learn that RBS was part of a group of banks that offered a £2.8billion loan to a firm owned by Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire who last year hosted both Peter Mandelson and George Osborne on holiday in Corfu.
The apparent loan to Mr Blavatnik has now brought the 51-year-old, who divides his time between America, Russia and Britain – where he resides in a £41million home in Kensington Palace Gardens –into the spotlight.
Raised in a Jewish household, (which is now politically correct for saying he is Jewish. Editor) he moved from Russia to America at the age of 21 to find a new life, earning an MBA from Harvard. He regularly returned to Russia for business and founded Access Industries in 1986, making his fortune in chemicals and natural resources, including oil, aluminium and coal.
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