 |
| BCCI has 120,000 UK
based customers |
| 1991: International bank closed in fraud
scandal |
England have
The Bank of England has closed down UK branches of the Bank of Credit
and Commerce International (BCCI) over allegations of fraud.
The bank's 120,000 UK customers were stunned by the speed of the
closure.
Even BCCI staff were not prepared for the largest ever intervention of
this kind by the Bank of England, as deposits worth ?50m were frozen.
Over the weekend liquidators from accountants Touche Ross will be
entering all 25 branches to carry out detailed examinations of their
finances.
The Bank of England also intends to stay open and set up a telephone
hotline to help worried investors.
They are advising that the UK Deposit Protection Fund will guarantee
investments up to ?5,000 but investigators need to find out exactly how
much is left in BCCI coffers .
London is at the centre of a global operation to investigate the
activities of Luxembourg based BCCI, which is one of the biggest privately
owned financial companies in the world.
Last year they were fined
$15m for laundering drug money for former President of Panama General
Noriega. At the time there were calls to shut down the bank, as six of its
former executives were also jailed.
Speaking today, the Governor of the Bank of England Robin
Leigh-Pemberton explained: "We had no clear evidence under which we could
act, under the Banking Act, until earlier this year."
There are already rumours that the bank made a huge operating loss last
year and probably would have collapsed within weeks anyway.
Opposition MPs are demanding to know why action was not taken sooner
but BCCI's controlling shareholder - the Abu Dhabi government - has
accused the British Government of acting too quickly.
Today's closure comes in the wake of a report commissioned by the Bank
of England and published by BCCI's auditors, Price Waterhouse, in
June.
