Bank accused of dishonesty in £1bn suit

A NEARLY one-billion-pound (€1.45bn) lawsuit against the Bank of England over its role in the world’s biggest banking fraud 13 years ago kicked-off yesterday with sharp criticism of the 300-year-old central bank.

In a hearing set to last well over a year at a cost of £100 million (€145m), lawyers for the liquidator of Bank of Credit and Commerce International are seeking to prove that the BoE knowingly did not protect depositors of the bank when it spectacularly collapsed in 1991 owing $10 billion (€7.85bn).

“The action is being brought against what was once, I emphasise once, one of the most revered and respected institutions of this country,” said Gordon Pollock, a barrister for liquidator Deloitte.