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Call for inquiry amid claims Guinness Four were scapegoats

February 5, 2015 12:02
Jack Lyons, who was stripped of his knighthood

By

Sandy Rashty,

Sandy Rashty

1 min read

The family of one of the Guinness Four has backed a call for a public inquiry into the affair that saw four Jewish businessmen jailed in 1990.

Ernest Saunders, Anthony Parnes, Jack Lyons and Gerald Ronson were found guilty of criminal offences in relation to inflating the value of Guinness shares during a takeover bid for rival company, Distillers. All except the late Mr Lyons, whose knighthood was stripped as a result of the scandal, were jailed.

This week Mr Lyons's son Jonathon backed a call for an inquiry by former cabinet minister Lord Mandelson and leading businessman Lord Alliance, who said that Jews had been made scapegoats.

Jonathon Lyons, whose father was once vice-president of the UJIA charity, said: "There should be an investigation, 100 per cent. They did feel like victims - victims of antisemitism. Many people in the non-Jewish community came to that conclusion as well.