Juicio contra Banco de Inglaterra por quiebra banco
Envío este artículo publicado en la revista The Economist (está en inglés, llevaría mucho tiempo traducirlo), por su interés debido a los paralelismos con el caso Eurobank.
Hace !!11 años!! un banco llamado BCCI, con operaciones en varios países, quebró, dejando a un buen número de ahorradores sin su dinero.
El liquidador de la entidad (Deloitte & Touche) ha llevado al Banco de Inglaterra a los tribunales, pues alega que hubo una dejadez del Banco de Inglaterra en sus funciones supervisoras; el BCCI había estando concediendo préstamos poco claros, y ello debería haber sido detectado por el supervisor.
El liquidador ya ha tenido éxito en su denuncia contra los auditores y contra los principales accionistas del banco quebrado (el gobierno de Abu Dabhi, del Golfo Pérsico), que parece usaban en beneficio propio la entidad, y ha conseguido una importante cantidad de dinero para los ahorradores afectados.
Como el BCCI tenía la sede en Luxemburgo, aunque su centro de operaciones esta en Londres el Banco de Inglaterra alega que no tenía potestad para hacer más... El artículo cita las dificultades que va a haber para que se declare culpable al Banco Central, por la protección legal que dispone. El hecho de que el caso esté en los tribunales 11 años después da una idea de la complejidad.
En fin, desgraciadamente, si cambiamos Inglaterra por España, BCCI por Eurobank, y Banco de Inglaterra por Banco de España, me parece que a muchos el caso nos suena...
BCCI
Old wounds
Jan 8th 2004
A dispute over a bank failure finally comes to court
FOR many, the new year is a time to look forward. Not for the Bank of England. On January 12th Britain's central bank will be in court, defending its record as the regulator of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), a fraud-ridden bank that collapsed in 1991 leaving depositors across the world $10 billion poorer. The plaintiff is Deloitte & Touche, the bank's liquidator, representing 6,500 depositors in Britain. It claims that the Bank “knowingly or recklessly” failed to supervise BCCI properly in the 12 years before BCCI imploded, and is seeking £850m ($1.5 billion) in damages.
The case has come to court only after 11 years of legal tussling between the Bank and Deloitte. British newspapers are already relishing the thought that three former governors of the Bank, as well as other officials, might have to give evidence. Excerpts from 300,000 Bank documents, released to Deloitte on court orders, are expected to be aired.
Deloitte's task is not straightforward. The Bank is statutorily immune from suits based on negligence. So the case against it is of “misfeasance” in public office, a rare allegation that legal experts say is hard to establish. Deloitte's lawyers must show not just that the Bank acted unlawfully, but that it did so deliberately or recklessly, knowing that its decisions would cause loss to depositors. “The legal hurdles to success are very high,” says a senior partner of a leading British law firm.
Deloitte, however, sets great store by the trove of documents released by the Bank and others, some of which were not seen by the inquiry by Lord Bingham (now Britain's senior law lord) into the BCCI affair in the early 1990s. It thinks that these demonstrate that the Bank acted in bad faith. The Bank, it says, licensed BCCI to do business in Britain in 1979, even though it knew BCCI did not meet the proper criteria. Deloitte also says that the Bank did not regulate BCCI adequately in subsequent years, despite evidence that shady dealings were afoot.
BCCI was founded in Pakistan by Aga Hassan Abedi, a savvy financier with a vision of creating a world-class retail bank focused on the developing world. It set up shop in London in 1972, catering for immigrants from South Asia. Backed by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi and Bank of America (which owned a 25% stake), and flush with petrodollars from newly rich Middle Eastern investors after the oil emb