15/08/2013 World Business Report

The team is expected to visit three sites were chemical weapons are

alleged to have been used. Now for the latest financial News

bankers are charged with trying to cover up the London Male six billion

dollars trading loss. -- to XGP Morgan.

Plus a 650 billion euros borrowing spree and 1 million people in

negative equity. The aftermath of the property crash in the

Netherlands. Welcome to you. This is World

Business Report. In just a moment, China widens its crackdown on

bribery in the drugs industry. First we start in the US, where

prosecutors have brought criminal charges against two former JP Morgan

bankers over the massive trading scandal that hit the bank last year.

Just to remind you, these were the losses racked up by the London whale

because of the size of the bets he was making in the market. They ended

up costing JP Morgan $6.2 billion, forcing the bank to restate its

earnings and its boss to appear before the US Senate. On Wednesday

the first criminal charges not for the whale himself, he already agreed

to cooperate with investigators in a deal to avoid prosecution, but his

London-based boss at another trader have both been charged with wire

fraud and conspiracy. They could face up to 20 years in prison if

convicted. Lawyers for both men say they contest the charges. We have

been at the Manhattan courthouse to hear what prosecutors had to say.

What they tried to portrait in the press conference was that this was

not just a case of individuals overwhelmed by circumstances and

didn't know what they were doing. This was a calculated attempt to try

and cover up the scale of the losses. The defendants deliberately

and repeatedly lied about the fair value of billions of dollars in

assets on JP Morgan's books in order to cover up massive losses that

mounted month after month at the beginning of 2012. Those lies misled

investors, regulators and the public, and they constituted federal

crimes. The London whale is working with prosecutors, trying to help

them build their case and has been charged. Prosecutors alluded to the

fact that he had several times tried to raise flags with his bosses. At

one point, one of them actually said to him that he was raising tensions

by reporting bigger losses than he was comfortable with. All of this

points to individual misconduct, but there was also a sense from the

lawmakers that there was more than this. Here is April Brooks, a

special agent with the FBI. would think one of the biggest banks

on the street would have rigourous compliance and oversight over their

books. Think again. As described in the complaints, complaints of the

portfolio was little more than a rubber stamp. Compliance in name

only. Here we are five years after the financial crisis, Wall Street

banks still getting in trouble with lawmakers. They are traitors have

the message that the kind of behaviour we saw back and will not

be tolerated. Let's move over to China, because it is stepping up its

crackdown on rampant bribery in the drugs industry.

According to the official newsagency, a three-month

investigation is scheduled to begin today. Let's talk to our reporter in

Singapore. What can we expect to hear? Distress investigation, which

begins today and ends in about three months time, is basically aimed at

bridging out bribery, fraud and anti-competitive practices. -- this

fresh investigation. Apart from the pricing of products and whether

companies are guilty of violating privacy laws, this investigation

will look into misleading or deceptive practices. Novartis and

Glaxo Smith crime of companies that have been accused. --

GlaxoSmithKline. Another story coming out of the

region that the joint industrial park run by north and South Korea is

to reopen? It will be reopened, but both sides have failed to set a

precise date for the resumption of operations at the context in which

has been shut down since April. The deal committed by both sides through

active efforts to resume normal operations because the park is home

to 123 South Korean factories which employs more than 50,000 North

Korean workers. It is also a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.

South Korean companies pay almost $80 million in salaries to those

workers every year. The complex also produced $470 -- $470 million worth

of goods last year. The UN Secretary General said that the agreement to

open the park was a positive development. We will have to wait

and see when it will reopen. As we have been reporting all week,

figures on Wednesday confirmed that the countries that share the euro

currency finally emerged from recession in the second quarter of

the year, with growth of 0.3%. Despite the cautious optimism, the

economic picture remains far from rosy. Not just for those in the

south. The Netherlands is struggling with the bursting of a real estate

bubble on a scale and the scene in the US and Spain. From the

Netherlands, in Rotterdam, our correspondent said this report --

sent this report. The Netherlands is famous for being partly below sea

level. Now the economy is under the water.

The country is facing austerity measures. It is sitting on some 650

billion euros worth of mortgage loans. No other consumers in Europe

are a -- as deeply in debt. Take this mortgage holder, consoling

herself with some baking. Her apartment has long been for sale

said she became ill and lost her job. Falling property values have

left her with a huge financial hole. I never expected that in two years

time my asking price would come from more than 200,000 euros to 179,000

euros, ending in a result of 153,000 euros. I just don't understand the

government and how they let this happen. In this case I have advised

my children to decline the inheritance totally because they are

stuck with 35,000 euros in debt. Property specialists blame over

generous government tax breaks and overoptimistic lenders. It all

encouraged the Dutch to pile into property. Many welcome the

correction but it is one that has left many economic victims in its

wake. We have to pay thousands of euros to the bank we don't see a

solution. The banks have to write off or they have to make a deal with

the clients so they can pay it off. They are not prepared in all cases

to let them pay it off. That is a rather big problem now. The Dutch

have always had a rather quirky approach to housing. Nobody expected

that a property boom and a bust would lead both private individuals

and banks sitting on mountains of unexpected new debts. All this from

a country which, in the past, has been rather quick to criticise

others for not living within their means.

Some other news for you now. The parent company of American Airlines

faces a bankruptcy court hearing in New York later. It is due to ask a

judge to approve its turnaround plan, and including an $11 billion

merger with USAirways. That is despite legal action by the US

Justice Department and six States to block the deal. They argue that the

merger, which would create the world 's biggest airline, would hurt

competition and mean higher fares for travellers.

Cisco says its cutting 4000 jobs, or 5% of its global workforce. The

Company reported higher quarterly profits, but it warned recovery has

been weaker than expected. Stock plunged almost 10% in after-hours

trading. A quick look at the markets in Asia

this morning. For the most part they have stalled a little bit on