BOB Diamond last night accused MPs of damaging his reputation after he claimed they had suggested he was "less than candid" in his evidence about the Libor rate rigging scandal.
The former Barclays chief executive said he would be seeking a meeting with the chairman of the House of Commons Treasury Committee, Andrew Tyrie, just hours after he waived a £20 million payoff.
It came after MPs yesterday questioned his evidence to them last week, with one member demanding Mr Diamond be recalled after his testimony appeared to be contradicted by the bank's former chairman Marcus Agius.
In a letter to My Tyrie, Mr Diamond said: "Having watched the committee's session today, I was dismayed that you and some of your fellow committee members appear to have suggested I was less than candid with the committee last week. Any such suggestion would be totally unfair and unfounded."
Both Mr Diamond and Mr Aguis resigned earlier this month in the wake of the rate rigging scandal which saw Barclays fined £290m.
During an evidence session with Mr Agius, MPs heard that Lord Turner, the head of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), had raised concerns over "aggressive" behaviour at the bank. Mr Agius said he had raised these issues with Mr Diamond and that they had been discussed by the bank's board.
But last week Mr Diamond told the committee he did not remember such concerns.
During the committee hearing, Conservative MP David Ruffley suggested to Mr Agius that Mr Diamond had "lied".
Another member, Labour's John Mann, posted on Twitter: "We now know Diamond misled parliament and he should be recalled."
Speaking outside the hearing, Mr Tyrie also said the evidence had cast doubt on Mr Diamond's testimony.
"Many of us ... thought that his replies were implausible but didn't have evidence to support that hunch," he said.
"Today we began to collect quite a bit of evidence to suggest that Bob Diamond's presentation of what happened was quite a long way away from what really happened."
Mr Diamond insisted he was only asked last week by MPs about a period from September 2010 and a board meeting in February last year.
He wrote: "The comments made at today's hearing have had a terribly unfair impact on my reputation, which is of paramount concern to me. I look forward to discussing this issue with you further if you wish to do so."
During the hearing MPs had also heard that the Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, had played a key role in Mr Diamond's departure.
Mr Agius said that during an emergency meeting Sir Mervyn had told him regulators no longer had confidence in the then chief executive.
Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed Mr Diamond's decision to give up the payout, which Mr Agius put at a maximum of £20 million.
Despite forgoing bonuses and share options, the former bank chief executive is still due to depart with around £2 million.
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