Rogue trader Nick Leeson urges jail for Libor fixing Mr Leeson was sentenced to six and a half years in Changi Prison in Singapore for trying to cover up trading losses that ballooned to such a size that it brought about the collapse of Barings Bank. He was released early in 1999 after being diagnosed with cancer. He questioned the quality of financial regulation in the UK, saying it was too reactive, unlike the United States with he said was more "proactive" and "challenging." In you look back at the financial scandals in America there have been so many prosecutions and so many people going to jail for insider trading and blatant fraud. However, he warned of the danger of today's grilling by the Treasury Select Committee of Bob Diamond, the chief executive of Barclays who on Tuesday resigned over the scandal. "Today's proceeding ... could potentially be very damaging for the country, if the complicity that is kind of being alleged at the moment with the FSA and the Bank of England is proven," Mr Leeson said. He was referring to a memo released by Barclays recounting Mr Diamond's recollection of a conversation with Paul Tucker, the Bank of England Deputy Governor. The memo suggested that Mr Tucker gave a hint in 2008 that the rate it was claiming to be paying to borrow money from other banks could be lowered. The memo, written on Oct 29, 2008, by Mr Diamond and circulated to two other senior bank officials, said: "Mr Tucker reiterated that he had received calls from a number of senior figures within Whitehall to question why Barclays was always toward the top end of the Libor pricing." Mr Diamond, who resigned yesterday, is now expected to use the memorandum to claim that the bank was not seeking to boost profits during the credit crisis by manipulating Libor when he appears before MPs today to face questions on the banking scandal.