Campaigners for hundreds of depositors who lost out in the £6 billion sterling collapse of BCCI yesterday claimed that documents were being withheld which showed the Bank of England failed to regulate the collapsed bank properly.
BCCI collapsed in 1991 owing more than £6 billion to thousands of depositors in 69 countries. So far, victims have received only partial compensation. A report into the affair was published by Lord Justice Bingham in 1992, although only a summary of it has been made public.
Dr Adil Elias, chairman of the BCCI Depositors' Protection Association, addressed a meeting of depositors yesterday in the House of Commons in London to update members on the liquidation proceedings.
"It is clear that there is new material not yet in the public domain which highlights the long-running failure by the Bank of England to properly regulate the BCCI.
"I believe that this new material will expose big mistakes by the Bank of England in its regulation of BCCI. If there is ever to be liability of a public official for abuse of office, the Bank of England will be liable."
Dr Elias added: "If the Bank of England wishes to continue to deny liability, then I make two challenges today: Firstly let us see the full Bingham Report. The Government could order the release of this document and there is no reason for this not to be done.
"Secondly, let the Bank of England disclose its internal documents. Let us see what the officials were doing with regard to regulations and supervision of BCCI. If they were doing their job properly, then they have nothing to fear."
The Depositors Protection Association represents about 500 depositors, including 200 registered members, equivalent to about 10 per cent of the creditors of BCCI. Between them the members have claims of more than £625 million.
The Bank of England pointed to a judgment in the High Court earlier this year which struck out a claim for more than £700 million sterling damages from the Bank of England.
Mr Justice Clarke found that the bank had not acted dishonestly or in bad faith. Deloitte & Touche, liquidators to BCCI, was claiming £500 million plus interest from the bank on behalf of 6,000 British depositors.
