Court sets date for BCCI award

LUXEMBOURG (Reuter) - A Luxembourg district court judge said she would decide on a compensation plan for creditors of the failed Bank of Credit and Commerce International on 22 October.

The judge, Maryse Welter, heard one day of final pleas from BCCI's creditors for an improvement in the compensation deal, which is backed by the bank's Abu Dhabi majority shareholders and liquidators.

The judge made no comment after the hearings, naming only the day of her judgment.

Creditors and former employees of the bank, which had its headquarters in Luxembourg, said the compensation agreement was unfair and also voiced concern about a recent ballot of BCCI creditors.

'The settlement as it is presently constituted will result in a payment of 15 cents in a dollar to creditors by the time the liquidation is finished and the money actually paid,' Masihur Rahman, BCCI's former chief of finance, told the court.

Backers of the settlement estimate it would pay back 30 to 40 per cent of creditors' losses.

The Labour MP Keith Vaz and members of a campaign committee present at the hearings said they would try to get the deal improved. 'Although 93 per cent of those who responded to the ballot questionnaire voted to support the deal, we do not know how many people were balloted,' Mr Vaz said.