Liquidators stick with PR firms despite judge's BCCI outburst

All of the Big Four use PR agencies to deal with big liquidations, sources said this week, after the judge in the BCCI case hit out at Deloitte’s ‘cynical and grotesque’ PR operation in relation to its misfeasance case against the Bank of England.

In a judgment that criticised several parties over the conduct of the case against the Bank, Mr Justice Tomlinson highlighted the use of ‘a public relations consultancy’ retained by the liquidators as a particular source of concern.

‘As part of a campaign of this sort I have no doubt that the urge to make selective extracts from

documents available to the press was irresistible, as they could be deployed in a manner which apparently showed the bank in a bad light. I make no criticism of those who published such extracts as they were given. As an exercise in objectivity, however, this can be seen with the hindsight acquired from experience of the trial as a cynical and grotesque operation.’

Representatives from the Big Four said that they too used consultancies on major liquidations: ‘The use of agencies on these issues is pretty widespread,’ one Big Four PR said.

Liquidations with big consumer implications often result in large numbers of press inquiries.

E&Y has said in the past that on the Railtrack liquidation, it was receiving calls from commuters concerned that their train was late

Other sources also said that the interest from the media on such issues tended to be ‘lumpy’, in that it was concentrated around particular events, and that it made no sense to have in-house specialists dealing with them.

It is unclear what the next step in the case will be, after some suggested the judge’s criticisms would lead to some fall-out, including regulatory interest, for Deloitte as liquidator and lawyers involved with the case.