Are the Barclay’s Robert Maxwell reincarnated?

Podgy billionaire owners of the Scrotesman and indeed now the Daily Torygraph, the ‘reclusive’ Barclay brothers, Sir Dave and Sir Freddy, are reportedly long-standing business associates of Japanese entrepreneur Tadayoshi Tazaki, still serving a ban imposed by British regulators for his part in the world’s biggest commodity trading scandal.

In a rare example of investigative journalism the Times has discovered that another business associate of the twins was the controversial Japanese politician Akira Ono, whose career was blighted by allegations of impropriety. The article claims “these findings raise new questions about the level of their knowledge about the running of their businesses”. The Times said legal representatives for the Barclays “categorically denied that they knew anything” about the backgrounds of their Japanese associates.

Doh!

Meanwhile, the Office of Fair Trading began its process to determine whether the Barclay’s ownership of the Telegraph might create a dominant force in the UK newspaper market.
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