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EADS wants to supply the US Air Force with Airbus planes, which have been partly funded by European governments. But industry experts are worried that the bill may also affect BAE because it owns 20 per cent of Airbus.Alan Sharman, the director general of the Defence Manufacturers Association, said: "We are concerned over how the Americans will interpret the bill and whether this may hit BAE. are unable to quantify their final liability with a reasonable degree of accuracy." Sir Nigel argues that all Neville Russell was doing was pointing out differing views on how to account for liabilities.The letter was not only withheld from the DTI but from Ian Hay Davison, the senior accountant who was brought in to sort out the problems of Lloyd's in 1983. They have been released, after four months of pressure by The Independent on Sunday, under the Freedom of Information Act.The Commission argued that the regime which allowed Lloyd's to regulate itself, under the supervision of first the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and then the Treasury, turned a blind eye to lax accounting systems, market abuses and even fraud. In two letters sent to the Government, the Commission claimed that regulatory failures had taken place for nearly 20 years.However, after a detailed rebuttal by the Government, the Commission dropped its threats.Westminster's response has been secret for more than two years. He concluded that "a number of questions" remain unanswered about the collapse of the car maker. There is no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of any of the Phoenix Venture Holdings directors.It is understood that Mr Johnson is considering two options.
First, he could ask the DTI's Companies Investigation Branch to look into the affair. This team has the power to investigate over 50 potential offences under the Companies Act and can search companies' premises and seize documents.Second, Mr Johnson could call on a QC, who would work with a partner of an accountancy firm, to lead the probe. This method has been employed for high-profile company investigations, such as the Maxwell affair and the collapse of Transtec. However, such investigations are protracted and critics say that that the decision to farm out the work is often politically motivated.A leading company lawyer said: "The official reason the Government will give is that it needs a different set of skills and resources for the investigation. The unofficial reason is that they want to distance themselves from the investigation.".
The Government has finally released the secret letters that it used to persuade the European Commission there were no fundamental problems with the supervision of Lloyd's of London in the 1980s - a period when the insurance market was plunged into chaos and thousands of investors lost billions of pounds. The letters, sent by Sir Nigel Sheinwald, then the UK's ambassador to the Commission, in 2002 and 2003, are replies to threatened enforcement orders from Brussels. PVH is keen to maximise as much as possible for workers."The trustees are also not clear how much the trust will be worth. One of the trustees, who did not want to be named, said: "It's difficult to work out. We do not know how valuable the assets will be."Once the trust is set up, the trustees will decide what to do with the assets and how to distribute them.MG Rover's administrator, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is examining bids for the whole of the business, as well as for parts of it such as the MGTF sports car division.
