Barings claim shrinks to £200m
A billion pound High Court claim against the auditors of Barings has shrunk to around £200m, a judge in London has been told.
The development follows moves by Coopers & Lybrand, the main auditor of the collapsed merchant bank, and liquidators at Ernst & Young to forge a settlement.
However, Coopers’ co-auditor, Deloitte & Touche Singapore, has vowed to fight on.
The judge who is dealing with the case, Mr Justice Evans Lombe, was today told at a case management conference that the value of the remainder of the claim against Deloitte & Touche is now being realistically put at around Pounds 200m.
The meeting was called to deal with formalities and calendar issues in the run up to the remaining aspects of the case, which is scheduled for a hearing in October.
The settlement between Coopers and the liquidators is expected to be finalised by the end of this month and to be approved by the Companies Court in September.
The liquidators claim the auditors failed to spot the activities of rogue trader, Nick Leeson, which lead to the collapse of Barings in 1995 with losses of Pounds 850m.
However, Jonathan Gaisman, QC for Deloittes, was critical of the way the case is being handled, saying it was in ‘a chronic state of uncertainty’.
If the companies court seal of approval was not to be given until September, he said his clients would not know until shortly before the action was to reach court, the extent of the case they had to answer.
They were, he claimed, being left in the dark about critical matters involved in their defence.
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