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The Bank of England risks becoming embroiled in an unprecedented criminal investigation over the potential rigging of its money-market auctions launched at the onset of the financial crisis.
英国央行(Bank of England)可能卷入一项史无前例的刑事调查，原因是央行在金融危机刚爆发时展开的货币市场拍卖可能受到了操纵。
Investigators at the UK’s Serious Fraud Office are probing the results of an independent inquiry that have been referred to it with a view to launching a formal investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.
据知情人士称，英国严重欺诈办公室(Serious Fraud Office)调查人员正对一项提交给该办公室的独立调查结果进行研究，以期启动正式调查。
The central bank’s oversight committee instructed Lord Grabiner QC last year to investigate whether any BoE official knew of, or even participated in, attempts to rig a series of auctions as the financial crisis began to bite in late 2007 and 2008, the Financial Times reported last year.
英国《金融时报》去年报道称，英国央行监督委员会去年曾指示皇家律师格拉比内勋爵(Lord Grabiner QC)调查，2007年底和2008年金融危机爆发时，是否有英国央行官员知晓、乃至参与旨在操纵一系列拍卖的图谋。
If the SFO does open an official investigation, it will be the first time the BoE has been caught up in a criminal inquiry in the law agency’s 28-year history. The revelation comes as the BoE faces intensified scrutiny over its governance, in particular over the rigour of an earlier investigation over its involvement in the foreign exchange rigging scandal.
如果严重欺诈办公室真的启动正式调查，这将是该司法机构成立28年来，英国央行首次卷入刑事调查。目前英国央行正因其管理问题面临更密切的审视，特别是在早先针对其卷入外汇操纵丑闻的调查是否严格的问题上。
Governor Mark Carney this week told lawmakers that in the aftermath of that forex inquiry, the BoE had spotted 50 instances of potential market abuse that in the past it might have missed. It is unclear whether the fresh SFO probe will focus on the behaviour of external traders or BoE officials, or both. The BoE and SFO declined to comment.
英国央行行长马克•卡尼(Mark Carney)本周告诉议员们，在外汇调查之后，英国央行发现了50例可能的市场滥用行为，过去英国央行可能会忽略这些行为。目前尚不清楚，严重欺诈办公室的最新调查是将针对外部交易员还是英国央行官员的行为，或者二者兼有。英国央行和严重欺诈办公室均拒绝置评。
During the central bank’s internal investigation into the auctions, Lord Grabiner interviewed about 10 staff, who were provided with lawyers at the BoE’s expense, people familiar with the investigation told the FT last year.
了解此次调查的人士去年告诉英国《金融时报》，在英国央行针对这些拍卖活动展开内部调查期间，格拉比内勋爵约谈了大约10名员工，英国央行出资为这些员工聘请了律师。
His inquiries were focused on late 2007 and early 2008 when the BoE ran a series of auctions as a way of keeping interbank lending markets functioning. This was before it launched its full quantitative easing programme in 2009.
他的调查针对2007年底和2008年初，当时英国央行展开了一系列拍卖活动，以维持银行间贷款市场正常运转。这些拍卖发生在英国央行2009年推出全面量化宽松计划之前。
Mr Carney declined to give details about the money-markets internal inquiry when questioned by lawmakers on Tuesday. They were discussing Lord Grabiner’s earlier probe into whether officials knew of potential manipulation of the forex market, which has led to six banks paying a total of $4.3bn to US, UK and Swiss authorities.
在周二接受议员质询时，卡尼拒绝提供有关货币市场内部调查的细节。议员们正在讨论格拉比内勋爵之前所做的调查，调查内容是英国央行官员是否知晓潜在的外汇市场操纵。因为存在外汇市场操纵行为，6家银行向美国、英国和瑞士当局支付总计43亿美元罚金。
The BoE has pledged to be more accountable after politicians said that a lack of checks on its top levels of decision-making hampered its response to the crisis.
政界人士表示，英国央行最高决策层缺乏制约，影响了其对此次危机的回应。之后英国央行承诺将负起更多责任。
