BCCI International (Overseas) Ltd and Price Waterhouse, Ernst & Whinney, and Abu Dhabi and the Bank of England

This application arose against the factual background of the ongoing litigation being brought by BCCI liquidators against the former auditors of the various BCCI companies. The defendants in that litigation are partners in Price Waterhouse and partners in Ernst & Whinney and the actions comprised in that litigation relate to the performance of their audits of BCCI companies throughout the 1980s. The legal and factual issues raised in that litigation are extremely complex and include the way in which Price Water‐house and Ernst & Whinney discharged various duties owed, including auditing duties, to BCCI companies. Discovery in that main litigation was proving a difficult and protracted process but the parties to it were attempting to agree lists of documents pertinent to the litigation which would be exchanged as part of the discovery process. Originally those lists included a considerable number of documents which had been assembled and obtained by Price Waterhouse to pass on to the Bank of England as part of its supervision and investigation of the BCCI group under the Banking Act 1987. All the parties to the main litigation agreed that those documents were of great importance to the determination of the actions involved but the legal advisers to Price Waterhouse were concerned that their inclusion in the discovery process may expose them and their clients to criminal sanctions for contravention of s.82(1) of the Banking Act 1987 which provides: