NICK LEESON, the trader who brought down Barings Bank, has in effect been cured of cancer, said a prison official, who described his colonic cancer as being "in complete remission".
Leeson, who has served 42 months of a six-and-a-half-year sentence, will be released from Singapore's Changi jail tomorrow, into a pounds 100,000 deal from the Daily Mail, which was the winner of a newspaper bidding war for his account of life behind bars.
A film of his downfall, Rogue Trader, premiered last week starring Ewan McGregor. The film rights of Leeson's book reputedly netted him pounds 700,000, which went on his legal fees.
Last August, Leeson was diagnosed with stage B cancer but was expected to recover after surgery. A prison spokeswoman said: "At Leeson's last medical check-up [on 23 June], doctors assessed the cancer to be in a state of complete clinical remission."
His recovery may not help the Mail, which risks trouble with the Press Complaints Commission for paying a convicted criminal. There had been suggestions that the payment could be justified if it funded his cancer treatment.
Last night, the PCC said it could not comment on potential loopholes in its guidelines. But the Solicitor General, Ross Cranston, told the Commons yesterday that people "ought not to profit from their own wrong", and that it might be appropriate for the PCC to deal with the matter.
Leeson denies boasting to fellow prisoners that he salted away a pounds 2m "pot of gold", but the situation has fuelled the interest of lawyers acting for liquidators for the now-defunct Barings Futures Singapore.
Peregrine Worsthorne, Review, page 4
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