DUE to the public money invested in the company thus being an involuntary investor in the RBS group, I object to the events taking place regarding shareholders being compensated (“Goodwin spared court by RBS deal”, The Herald, April 28). Banks don’t give money away willingly and it is disgraceful that the bank can tacitly acknowledge that private shareholders were in some way disadvantaged and come to a financial settlement whilst being allowed the charade of saying they do so “without any admission of liability”. When did “legacy issues” come to mean alleged misdemeanours that need to be settled in court? Why if 90 per cent of the 27,000 current claimants have still not reached a settlement does that mean that Mr Goodwin may avoid being questioned in court? We are collectively being denied the opportunity to perhaps discover who is responsible and perhaps the names of those who profited from the practices that ruined the financial system. Nobody burned any money during the financial collapse; there were winners as well as losers.

It reflects very badly on the Establishment in general if such major financial shenanigans are played out in camera, nobody is blamed and nobody punished. It is especially galling when we the public, one way or another, are paying the legal fees and financial penalties for “legacy issues” we did not profit from and stand to lose billions when for ideological reasons our 72 per cent share in the RBS is sold at a loss.

The system is rotten.

David J Crawford,

Flat 3/3, 131 Shuna Street, Glasgow.