Britain's central bank lost an appeal on Monday to keep sensitive internal documents under wraps in a lawsuit seeking an almost one billion pounds ($1.87 billion) over its role in the world's biggest banking fraud.
England's Court of Appeal ruled that the Bank of England had to release up to 10 files worth of letters between the bank and its lawyers relating to the collapse of Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) in 1991.
Lawyers for Deloitte, BCCI's liquidators, want to use the letters as part of their attempts to prove that the BoE knowingly did not protect BCCI depositors when the bank fraud resulted in the collapse of BCCI with debts of more than $16 billion.
The Bank of England had argued that the letters, which cover approximately the first year following BCCI's collapse, were covered by legal privilege and should be kept under wraps but the Court dismissed that argument.
The central bank is considering petitioning the House of Lords, Britain's highest court, to see if it can appeal against the ruling.