A POLITICAL controversy has broken out in Britain after 49 former British Rail managers and employees made a profit of almost £84 million sterling from the sale of a train leasing company they acquired six months ago.
Mr Gordon Brown, the Labour Party shadow chancellor said the profits from the £825 million sale of Porterbrook to Stagecoach, the bus and train company, marked the start of "a new round of privatisation abuses".
Mr Robert Sheldon, chairman of the House of Commons public accounts committee, confirmed that the sale of Porterbrook - one of three train leasing companies - would be investigated.
Labour says Porterbrook may be the first of a number of rail businesses to be sold at a big mark up.
The business was bought for £527 million by a management buyout team in January. On Wednesday it was sold for £825 million.
The company's six executive directors, including Mr Sandy Anderson, the managing director, will be the main beneficiaries of the sale. Mr Anderson will earn £33.6 million from his shares, while two other directors will share more than £25 million.
Mr Peter Watson, Porterbrook's chairman and the technical director of British Railways between 1991 and 1994, has 25,000 shares worth £4 million following the deal.
He is also chief executive of AEA Technology, due to be spun off from the Atomic Energy Authority and floated by the end of the year.
Mr Brown said the Prime Minister, Mr Major, failed to live up to his promise that windfall profits made in the sales of other utilities would not be available under privatisation.
