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The accountancy group that acted as auditor to Barings, the bank brought to its knees by rogue trader Nick Leeson, has been found guilty of professional failings.
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The firm, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, has lodged an appeal against the finding, which was delivered last week by a disciplinary tribunal of the accountancy profession.
Meanwhile, the Joint Disciplinary Scheme, the accountancy regulator, has laid complaints against former Barings deputy chairman Andrew Tuckey, a chartered accountant, for failing to detect Leeson's activities. These complaints will go before a tribunal.
Coopers has the right to clear its name publicly by opening the appeal to Press and public, but it said on Friday that it had no plans to exercise this right.
The tribunal found charges of serious failings brought against the Coopers part of the nowmerged practice to have been proved, a verdict that, if upheld, would prove damaging to Coopers in its attempts to fend off its share of a £1 billion lawsuit from fellow accountancy group Ernst & Young, liquidator of Barings.
Ernst is alleging professional negligence by Coopers in its Barings audit work, and is making similar allegations against the Singapore practice of accountancy firm Deloitte & Touche.
No date has been set for the appeal.
Tuckey, according to the JDS, failed during 1994 and 1995 to instigate or perform a detailed inspection of Barings' Singapore operations, failed to investigate a Leeson forgery and failed to ensure that Leeson was properly supervised.
Barings collapsed in February 1995 after Leeson ran up losses of more than £800 million.
Even intensive efforts by the Bank of England to find a rescuer were unable to save what was one of the City's oldest institutions.
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