Straw bed for Leeson as he gets taste of jail

STEVE BOGGAN

Nick Leeson, the rogue Barings trader, was given his first taste of Singaporean prison life last night after a judge remanded him in custody at a maximum security jail.

The man credited with bringing down Britain's oldest bank slept on a straw mattress in a spartan cell shared with two white-collar criminals in Tanah Merah prison.

Mr Leeson, 28, will stay at the prison until 1 December when a date for his trial is likely to be set. During his first court appearance yesterday, he wore his futures trading uniform and looked tired after the flight from Frankfurt and a night's interrogation by Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department, the equivalent of Britain's Serious Fraud Office.

It took 75 minutes for the 11 charges against him to be read in full from 19 sheets of paper, a process for which District Judge Tan Siong Thye apologised. "I know it's laborious," he said. "But we have no choice. We have to go through it."

Mr Leeson is charged with fraud and forgery in the disastrous dealings which brought the 232-year-old bank to its knees last February with pounds 840m losses. Six of the charges allege that he cheated the Singapore International Money Exchange (SIMEX), three allege that he forged documents and two that he defrauded Barings Futures Singapore.

The charge sheets contained reams of figures to illustrate the allegations of forgeries and misrepresentations he is accused of making in order to conceal his enormous, unauthorised losses.

The forgery charges alleged that Mr Leeson altered bank and company documents to show that Barings Futures was owed 7.778 billion yen by a US company, Spear, Leeds and Kellogg.

This was done to deceive Barings auditors into believing that Barings Futures had enough money to fund the futures bets, when it fact it did not.

He allegedly hid losses in an account called Error Account 88888 and created credits in other accounts to give the impression that he could cover his losses.

Mr Leeson was betting on Japanese stocks rising but they plunged in the wake of last year's Kobe earthquake.

Instead of pulling out and cutting his losses, he continued on what has been described as a "double or quits" strategy. No-one has ever alleged that he stole money for himself.

Throughout yesterday's hearing in court 26 of the Subordinate Courts building, which his wife, Lisa, did not attend, Mr Leeson listened soberly and made no comment. He was not asked to enter a plea.

His solicitor, John Koh, said the trial could begin as early as late December.

Until then, Mr Leeson will sleep on his straw mattress in a cell with no furniture. He will eat standard prison fare, which includes meals without pork for Muslims, and he will have daily visitation rights except at weekends.

Remand prisoners are also allowed visits by ordained ministers with the approval of the director of prisons, as well as meetings with lawyers. Foreigners may be visited by consular officers from their embassies or high commissions.

If convicted, Mr Leeson faces a maximum sentence of 14 years.

However, there has been much speculation that he will receive a much shorter sentence in return for co-operating with the Singaporeans, whose own inquiry asked questions of the behaviour of James Bax, Mr Leeson's superior in the Singapore operation, and Peter Norris, his boss in Britain. Mr Leeson has said he will co-operate fully.