The Bank of England said on June 07 that it had secured 73.6 million pounds (108.2 million euros, 138.4 million dollars) to cover its legal costs stemming from an epic court battle after the collapse of British bank BCCI in 1991.
The central bank said that the settlement signalled an end to a 12-year legal fight with the liquidators of BCCI, accountancy group Deloitte and Touche, who agreed to pay the compensation to the central bank.
Deloitte and Touche had attempted to sue the Bank of England for 850 million pounds for its alleged role in the bankruptcy of BCCI, or the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, which went bust in 1991 leaving 6,000 investors out of pocket.
Deloitte had claimed that the Bank of England, which had responsibility for regulating the British banking sector at the time, had failed to investigate allegations linking BCCI with terrorist organisations, arms shipments to Arab states and a South American drugs cartel.
The 12-year legal battle, which included two years in court, was dropped in November last year and was later described as a "farce" by the presiding judge.
The liquidators handed over 73.6 million pounds to the Bank after the collapse of the case, which was confirmed on Wednesday in an out-of-court settlement between the two parties.
"This is an excellent result which allows us to draw a final line under the BCCI case," a Bank of England spokesman said.
"Without this settlement, there could have been several years of assessment hearings which would have added millions more in costs."
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