JON CORZINE, the former chief executive of MF Global, told a congressional hearing yesterday “I simply do not know where the money is” when he was summoned to testify on the collapse of the broker-dealer and an estimated $1.2 billion of missing customer funds.

In his testimony, the former New Jersey senator and ex-Goldman Sachs chief executive, who ran MF Global until it collapsed five weeks ago said he was “stunned” to learn that customer funds had gone missing and was told only on October 30th, a day before the company collapsed.

Regulators and the FBI are examining how the firewall between MF Global’s accounts and those of its customers was breached in the dramatic days that preceded the company’s bankruptcy on October 31th.

Looking uneasy in what was once a familiar setting – a congressional hearing room – Mr Corzine held his prepared testimony tightly in both hands as he read from it. “I apologise personally and on behalf of the company,” he said to the employees and customers of MF Global. “I truly know they are bearing the brunt.”

Once the questions started flying in from Frank Lucas, the chairman of the house agriculture panel, Mr Corzine folded his arms on the table and said “I never intended to break the rules.”

In one exchange Mr Lucas asked Mr Corzine why he was so confident about his bets on European sovereign debt. Mr Corzine responded that “many different considerations” led MF Global to make those trades, including the assessment of rating agencies and a “long-running dialogue that can be second guessed”, leading the company to believe Europe was “going to take more forceful steps ... to avoid insolvency”.

When he was asked why regulators had been describing MF Global’s accounts as a “mess”, Mr Corzine said: “My understanding is that the books and records were reflecting the chaos occurring in the last three days as the firm was under severe pressure.” – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011)