U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is going to TAX Goldmans Ass #GS $GS

LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday that British taxpayers will be owed hundreds of millions of dollars of compensation ifcharges against U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS) are upheld."If what happened at Goldman Sachs and at any other bank is proven to bewrong, then hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation should be paid toBritish banks and because we are the biggest shareholder in many of them, tothe British taxpayer."The Securities and Exchange Commission last Friday said it was chargingGoldman Sachs and one of its directors, Fabrice Tourre, with fraud, for sellinga financial instrument secretly designed by hedge-fund firm Paulson & Co.,which then made a $1 billion profit by betting on the deal's downfall.Goldman Sachs has denied the allegations.In its civil filing to a New York court, the SEC claimed that the biggestloser had been Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, which had paid out $841million, or GBP550 million, on toxic sub prime U.S. mortgages.The U.K. government holds a majority share in RBS.Brown also said that the global financial levy which is being negotiated thisweekend at the International Monetary Fund spring meetings in Washington DC"will mean a long term shift in resources from remuneration to bankers... tothe public who have had to bare the consequences of that irresponsibility."-By Laurence Norman, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-207-842-9270;laurence.norman@Dowjones.comClick here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's mostimportant business and market news, analysis and commentary: link