--- category: Private Organization created: 2026-09-23 location: London, United Kingdom relations: - fn: 1 role: provisional liquidator in the United Kingdom; lead liquidator start: 1991-07 type: investigated with: '[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]' - fn: 3 reverse: true role: Queen's Counsel for the English court-appointed liquidators type: represented with: '[[Michael Crystal]]' - fn: 5 reverse: true role: Washington counsel to the BCCI liquidators start: 1992 type: represented with: '[[Nussbaum and Wald]]' summary: British accountancy firm appointed provisional liquidator of BCCI in the United Kingdom after the bank's closure on July 5, 1991, and described in Parliament as lead liquidator of its Luxembourg holding company. tags: - Organization - Accountancy - BCCI - Liquidation updated: 2026-09-23 --- Touche Ross was a British firm of accountants. After the [Bank of England](/organizations/bank-of-england/) and regulators in other jurisdictions closed the [Bank of Credit and Commerce International](/organizations/bank-of-credit-and-commerce-international/) (BCCI) on Friday, July 5, 1991, the [United Kingdom](/places/united-kingdom/) courts, on a petition by the Bank of England, appointed Touche Ross provisional liquidator of the bank.[^1] ### Appointment The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Maples, told the House of Commons on July 8, 1991: "In the United Kingdom, following a petition made by the Bank of England, the United Kingdom courts have appointed Touche Ross as provisional liquidator. The effect of this action is that deposits with the United Kingdom branches of BCCI SA are frozen." The action followed "prima facia evidence, contained in a report commissioned by the Bank of England and recently received, of widespread fraud in a number of jurisdictions stretching back over a number of years." The Bank of England met the main high street banks and the liquidator that morning to arrange help for small businesses that had banked with BCCI, and Maples announced that "Touche Ross is willing for six weeks to give free advice to any small business affected by the BCCI winding-up." Answering a member, he stated that "The lead liquidator is the liquidator of the holding company in Luxembourg," naming Touche Ross, and described the liquidators in the other countries as its agents, adding that this was "perhaps" not "a proper, technical, legal description."[^1] The Senate report of Senators [John Kerry](/people/john-kerry/) and [Hank Brown](/people/hank-brown/) recorded that liquidators were appointed by the District Court of Luxembourg, where BCCI was incorporated, and quoted the chief liquidator, Brian Smouha, whom its list of witnesses described as "Court Appointed Fiduciary for BCCI Holdings (Luxembourg) SA and Bank of Credit and Commerce International, S.A., London, England."[^2][^3] ### Findings The Senate report stated that the findings of BCCI's former auditors, [Price Waterhouse](/organizations/price-waterhouse/), "were later affirmed by its successor accountants, Touche Ross, who handled the liquidation of BCCI. A year after becoming liquidator, Touche Ross noted that the true picture of BCCI's activities was distorted by such practices as 'loan parking,' 'artificial fund transfers,' the provision of multiple loans to a customer, each secured by the same property, and many similar improper practices." Its source was the firm's *Report on the Activities Undertaken in Luxembourg and the UK Covering the Liquidation Period Up to 15 April 1992*.[^4] ### Abu Dhabi Smouha testified that the liquidators' "responsibility is to use the resources in the liquidation estates to maximize recoveries to be made available to creditors and depositors. [A]s far as we are able consistent with that responsibility, we endeavor to cooperate with numerous investigative authorities in a number of countries." The Senate report drew the conclusion that where investigation threatened recoveries, the liquidators were bound "to sacrifice the investigation and uncovering the truth about what happened to the goal of maximizing funds to return to the creditors."[^2] Smouha testified that after initially being denied access, the liquidators had since late summer 1991 seen documents of BCCI's Central Credit Division in [Abu Dhabi](/places/abu-dhabi/) for loan recovery only, that a court-appointed receiver there would not let them remove documents, and that key former employees under arrest in Abu Dhabi were in the control of its public prosecutor. Under the settlement the liquidators negotiated with the government of Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi was to contribute 1.7 billion dollars and would pursue claims against BCCI's former auditors, certain former solicitors and certain individuals formerly responsible for its management, with the liquidators sharing in half of any recovery. The liquidators' barrister, Michael Crystal, testified that the arrangements "will not prevent regulators in jurisdictions who have access to international treaties . . . from continuing to pursue criminals and bring them to justice." The report called this testimony "technically correct, but as a practical matter, misleading."[^2] The liquidators' communications with the subcommittee in June 1992 went through the Washington law firm Nussbaum and Wald.[^5] The English liquidators of BCCI SA were the claimants in [Three Rivers District Council v Bank of England](/events/three-rivers-district-council-v-bank-of-england/), an action alleging dishonest supervision by the Bank of England, which they abandoned on November 2, 2005, the 256th day of trial, after twelve years of litigation.[^6] [^1]: "Bank of Credit and Commerce International." House of Commons Debates (Hansard), vol. 194, July 8, 1991 (statement of the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Maples). https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1991/jul/08/bank-of-credit-and-commerce-international [^2]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 14, "Abu Dhabi: BCCI's Founding and Majority Stockholders" (citing testimony of Brian Smouha and Michael Crystal, S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 5). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/14abudhabi.htm [^3]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* Appendices. https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/24appendic.htm [^4]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 4, "BCCI's Criminality." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm [^5]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 11, "BCCI, the CIA and Foreign Intelligence," note 98. https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm [^6]: *Three Rivers District Council and Others v. The Governor and Company of the Bank of England* [2006] EWHC 816 (Comm), judgment of Mr Justice Tomlinson, April 12, 2006. https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Comm/2006/816.html (archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260203100053/https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Comm/2006/816.html)