Fourth man arrested in Maxwell inquiry

A FOURTH man has been arrested and charged in relation to the Serious Fraud Office's investigation into the collapsed empire of the late Robert Maxwell.

Robert Bunn, 46, who was the finance director of the main Maxwell private companies, was arrested yesterday morning at his home in the Barbican, London. His arrest follows those of Kevin Maxwell, Ian Maxwell and Larry Trachtenberg in June.

Mr Bunn was charged with conspiracy, with others, to defraud a syndicate of banks that lent dollars 3bn (pounds 1.75bn) to Maxwell Communication Corporation, by pledging shares in an MCC subsidiary, Berlitz International, to third parties as security for loans. The alleged offences occurred between 1 November 1990 and 31 December last year.

The charges are the first of their kind in the case. Kevin Maxwell has been charged with the theft of one million shares in Berlitz between 4 November and 9 November 1990, and both Kevin Maxwell and Larry Trachtenberg were charged with fraud in representing that 2.4 million Berlitz shares owned by MCC were owned by a private Maxwell company.

Mr Bunn was released on police bail and is due to appear before magistrates on 1 December, the next date at which the Maxwell brothers and Mr Trachtenberg are due to appear.

Kevin Maxwell lost his case to have a judicial review of the SFO's decision to withhold documentary evidence on its case against him.