LONDON, June 7: The Bank of England (BoE) said it had reached a full and final settlement with the liquidators for collapsed Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) in the proceedings against the central bank.

The (BoE) said on Wednesday it would retain 73.6 million pounds ($136.9 million) paid to it by the liquidators in November 2005, plus 1.7 million pounds of interest on that amount.

The BoE had sought about 80 million pounds in costs from the liquidators in the marathon case, which the Bank said was the longest and most expensive commercial trial in Britain.

Deloitte, liquidators for BCCI, dropped an 850 million pound lawsuit in November, ending the first case ever brought against the central bank after almost two years in court and 12 years of litigation.

Lawyers for Deloitte had alleged that the BoE knowingly failed to protect depositors from the world’s biggest bank fraud, which resulted in the spectacular collapse of BCCI in 1991, owing more than $16 billion.

BCCI was founded in 1972 by Pakistani banker Agha Hassan Abedi and grew to span 69 countries with $20 billion of assets before being closed 19 years later by regulators in a worldwide swoop after they discovered the lender had disguised losses and was insolvent.

Its collapse left more than 6,500 depositors trying to get their money back.

The BoE granted a licence to BCCI to operate in the City of London in 1980 but did not take over actual supervision of it, because it was registered in Luxembourg despite having a London headquarters.—Reuters