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Bank of Credit and Commerce International

It is certainly more than $100 million less than the figure my right hon. Friend quoted. The liquidators meet, consult and correspond with the committee on a regular basis. There may be a suggestion that the committee is not able to exercise its scrutiny role, and that the liquidators are free to proceed, if I may use the vernacular, in their own way and in their own sweet time, but it is worth stressing that the committee, which is representative of the body of the bank's creditors, receives its own independent legal advice funded by the liquidation itself. If one looks at the make-up of the committee, one finds that it does not look like a body of people who would be easily duped. The committee meets quarterly and may also have ad hoc meetings in the year. It receives its own independent legal advice, which the court has authorised as an expense of the liquidation. The committee receives a full set of accounts each quarter, together with a report on the liquidators' activities in that period. Aspects of the liquidation can be very complex and the independent legal advice ensures that the committee can understand the content and the import of the reports that it receives. The liquidators' remuneration is approved by the committee on a quarterly basis. My right hon. Friend may wish to take issue with that, and he is perfectly free to do so, but it is not a process in which the creditors have no voice, or only a passing voice. The liquidators prepare an annual budget for their activities, and their performance is measured against that on a quarterly basis.