Farepak justice hampered by costs Clive Thompson is innocent, OK? After six years of trial by newspaper, politician and public opinion, the court has now found that the former CBI president was not the villain in the collapse of Farepak, the hamper savings company that ruined Christmas for 120,000 people in 2006. That title goes to Farepak's bankers, HBOS. The case against Sir Clive and his fellow directors collapsed this week, and the devastating statement from the judge, Mr Justice Peter Smith, blames the bloody-mindedness of the bank's "high risk" department. On his reckoning, a further advance of £3m-£5m would have saved the company, while the last £10m of savings from the customers was never going to be redeemed. While everyone else was struggling to save the business, HBOS pocketed the payments. Legal, but hardly moral, and Mr Justice Smith suggests that HBOS might consider doing as it was done by - it cannot now rescue Farepak as it was itself rescued, but it could pay £8m into the creditors" pool. This dispiriting case raises difficult questions. The judge's fury with the secretary of state shines through. An affidavit running to 435 pages, plus thousands of pages of exhibits, seemed designed to overwhelm the defendants, while Vince Cable's grudging admission of defeat increases suspicions that Sir Clive and his directors were targeted as the fall guys. Then there are the costs. The liquidators will eat two-thirds of what is left. Payouts to the poor customers are unlikely to exceed 10p in the pound. The £20m wasted on this case would have paid them more than 50p. Finally, Sir Clive was chairman of Farepak and its parent, European Home Retail. Long before EHR failed, his board might have asked themselves just what sort of business Farepak was? What started as a scheme for a butcher's customers to save for Christmas had become a specialised savings bank. Paying the "deposits" up the corporate chain was asking for trouble, especially when EHR spent the money. Something was bound to go wrong. Experienced in that business jungle, Sir Clive could hardly be described as an innocent. Please don't co-operate Another deadline looms next week for the sale of 630 Lloyds bank branches. The blunt truth about this auctioneer's nightmare is that only those who cannot afford it want to buy it. It is not quite clear into which category the Co-operative Bank, the last bidder still standing, falls. Its management has ambitions, but to pay anything like Lloyds" asking price would give the rating agencies an attack of the vapours. The Co-op is notably short of banking expertise at the top, and can't tap the capital markets for equity. Lloyds is now muttering about a flotation instead. Well, best of luck. Time is running out, and the appetite for pig-in-a-poke banking stocks today is so low that you can hardly give them away. Oh, wait a minute; maybe you can, to the Lloyds shareholders. Throw in a fine brand name, and a warm welcome, please, for Halifax Bank. A decent period of silence Targets do not come any more tempting than Jimmy Carr, who is probably not David Cameron's idea of a good laugh, but there was no need for him to add to the brickbats which have followed The Times" exposé of Mr Carr's lack-of-tax affairs. The prime minister should know it is not necessary for the wealthy to climb K2 to shrink their tax liabilities. Elaborate avoidance schemes are of most value to high earners. Those with inherited wealth like, say, the Cameron clan, can live off their capital and use state-sponsored schemes to shrink the tax bill. To pension contributions, venture capital trusts and enterprise investment schemes, the government has added the Seed EIS, with 50 per cent tax relief plus a capital gains tax waiver. And there is always the warm glow from tax-efficient charity donations, limitless again, following the chancellor's climbdown. Today's incentive becomes tomorrow's routine tax planning and the day after tomorrow's fiddle. We may resent the ruthless efficiency with which the likes of Mr Carr's advisers exploit the rules, but politicians in the glass houses of inherited wealth should not throw stones. A full list of Neil Collins" financial interests can be found at www.ft.com/collinsportfolio