A Liberal Democrat peer has exposed details of a super-injunction involving former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Sir Fred Goodwin.
Using the protection of parliamentary privilege Lord Stoneham asked justice minister Lord McNally: "Would he accept that every taxpayer has a direct public interest in the events leading up to the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland?
"So how can it be right for a super-injunction to hide the alleged relationship between Sir Fred Goodwin and a senior colleague?"
Speaking on behalf of fellow Lib Dem peer Lord Oakeshott, who is abroad, Lord Stoneham said:
"If true it would be a serious breach of corporate governance and not even the Financial Services Authority would know about it."
Lord McNally said it was "not for me to comment on individual cases".
The Lib Dem minister also admitted the government did not know how many super-injunctions have been taken out.
"I have to confess that the ministry of justice do not have a figure of number the super-injunctions," he said.
One peer suggested Lord McNally "send a runner down to Royal Courts of Justice and find out".
The controversial legal mechanism, by which the reporting of an injunction, has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks.
Reports vary as to how many super-injunctions have been taken out, with the figure varying from around 30 to as high as 800.
In March Lib Dem MP John Hemming revealed Sir Fred had a super-injunction banning the media describing him as a banker.
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