HOWZAT

If PWC is successful, the European operation would be Lehman’s third-biggest creditor after Citigroup and Bank of New York. It is thought that PWC will want to look closely at how $2.5 billion had been ring-fenced as part of the deal with Barclays. It will want to know who negotiated the sale and the precise details surrounding who benefited.

Lehman’s American office was in a frantic scramble for cash as rival banks refused to provide capital in the inter-bank lending market and those that had given loans wanted them to be repaid immediately.

The administrator is looking closely at how this cash was transferred. It was an unusally high transfer that raised eyebrows in the London office.

Yesterday Gordon Brown, the prime minister stepped into support PWC’s claim demanding the American division return the £4.4 billion.

PWC has a team of more than 200 accountants and 100 lawyers working round the clock at Lehman’s headquarters at Canary Wharf. Tony Lomas, who is heading the team and who also handled the administration of Enron in Britain said that Lehman was “as close to a mirror image as you could get” to that case.

He added: “Both in terms of the impact of the loss of confidence and the complexity of the trading transactions, the interdependencies of the group companies, and the sweeping of cash into a holding company account, leaving subsidiary companies empty of cash at the point of collapse.”

He predicted that winding down the business will take years. “There are still Enron companies that our team is handling, and that was seven years ago. This is more complex.”

PWC is today examining bids for parts of the London office. Barclays is attempting to cherry pick Lehman’s equities and investment-banking team, which totals nearly 2,500 people. Nomura, the Japanese bank, is the rival bidder and is prepared to buy the whole business. Such a deal would give it a much greater presence in London.

Senior directors at the Canary Wharf office are trying to ensure that secretaries and IT staff get jobs. And they are keen for the buyer to make good the deficit in Lehman’s UK pension fund.

There is also huge concern among counter-parties who have been exposed to transactions with Lehman. Many have been forced to write these down to 10 cents in the dollar.

The way that Lehman has set aside cash to reward staff has angered politicans. John McFall, chairman of the Treasury select committee, said: “This is socialism for the fat cats. Everyone in financial services recognised that the remuneration system is the cancer on the financial body politic here. Until that is tackled we can’t move on.”

Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor, said: “This is outrageous and deeply cynical. Part of the problem with Lehman and the other weak investment banks was that they were driven by the bonus culture, which rewarded big deals rather than good deals. It was what destabilised the institutions in the first place. They are being rewarded for having adopted business behaviour that has wrecked their bank.”

John Varley, Barclays chief executive, said: “If you look at the balance sheet that we have acquired, we have acquired net assets of about $4 billion for $250m. And included in the growth assets for these liabilities, which are netted to get to the $4 billion, is the assumption of a bonus pool for Lehman.”

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive