Exclusive: Sir Fred Goodwin's fury as comic shows him burning money

May 31 2009 Fiona Young

BLEATING banker Sir Fred Goodwin has branded a comic "absolutely disgusting" after a strip showed him lighting a fire with £20 notes.

The cartoon strip in Viz lampoons the former Royal Bank of Scotland chief and also has him shouting at a pregnant cleaner for failing to clean his Rolls- Royce properly.

He celebrates having her prosecuted for defrauding him of £40 in front of a roaring fire of banknotes.

Yesterday Sir Fred's spokesman said: "It sounds actionable but whether he would sue Viz is a matter for him.

"It's not something he would want to discuss. It's absolutely disgusting - he's a father of two children and does not deserve this kind of treatment."

Sir Fred has not been sighted for months after he went abroad to avoid the storm surrounding his departure from RBS with a massive pension.

Asked about Goodwin's whereabouts, the spokesman said: "It won't be divulged - he's not a criminal on the run, he's a private individual. Some of the guesswork so far has been pretty wide of the mark, though."

In the strip, Jack Black And The Goodwin Manor Mystery, the disgraced banker celebrates the cleaner's downfall by drinking by a fire fuelled with piles of banknotes.

In one frame, he says: "Put another wodge of notes on the fire, would you? There's a chap.

"No, not the tens, the twenties. They give out more warmth."

Sir Fred has become a popular target for the adult comic.

In April it had a pop at him with the strip, Sir Fred Goodwin The Fat Cat, which depicted him as a moggy that eats cash.

Goodwin presided over the loss of £24.1billion during his disastrous stewardship of RBS - the biggest loss in British corporate history.

The bank was effectively nationalised in a Government backed bailout last year.

The former chief executive then infuriated customers when he walked away earlier this year with a £700,000 annual pension.

The team behind monthly comic Viz - which has a circulation of more than 300,000 - were not available for comment..