CURRENT ACCOUNT: The disclosure that Parthus co-founders Mr Brian Long and Mr Peter McManamon were offered shares from the friends and family list of IPO candidate Bookham Technologies will have further dented confidence among investors, many of whom are already nursing heavy losses.

Both entrepreneurs made a handsome profit from selling the shares in Bookham - which they were offered at a flotation price of £10 sterling (€15.60) - and which hit £54 later that year.

A Sunday Times article drew attention to the fact that Goldman Sachs acted on behalf of both Bookham and Parthus, which floated later that year.

Goldman Sachs, which earned substantial corporate finance fees from Parthus over the years, strongly rejected the suggestion that it had in any way influenced Bookham's decision to offer the two Parthus founders shares at the flotation.

The question of how Mr Long and Mr McManamon's names ended up in the friends and family list remains unanswered. Bookham's chairman is quoted as saying he didn't even know them. And no Bookham executive has as yet been shown to have had any personal relationship to the duo.

Requests to Bookham Technology this week to find out who put the Parthus duo on the list went unanswered, and Mr Long said in a statement that the list was compiled by the executive management team at Bookham.

Perhaps the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in Britain will get some answers. The FSA is conducting a consultation with investment banks into "spinning", which although not illegal is considered unethical in Britain and involves corporate executives being awarded shares in hot IPOs in exchange for their investment banking business.