A group of wealthy individuals including Guy Hands, the private equity luminary, have accused Baker Tilly, the accountancy firm, and a leading barrister of professional negligence in £23 million compensation claim.

Lawyers for the 75 investors told the High Court that incorrect advice from Baker Tilly and Adrian Shipwright, of Pump Court Tax Chambers, was directly responsible for millions of pounds of losses on a film-financing scheme.

Christopher Symons, QC, said the investor group, which also includes Eric Nicoli, the chief executive of music group EMI, were given flawed advice about the amount of tax relief they could obtain by investing in British films.

Baker Tilly and Mr Shipwright deny negligence. Lawyers close to the case said that Mr Hands, chief executive of Terra Firma, would be called as a witness.

Yesterday, Mr Symons told the judge that tax relief scheme appeared "too good to be true" but investors rushed to sign up because it had been rubber stamped by Baker Tilly and Mr Shipwright.

Mr Symons added that both Baker Tilly and Mr Shipwright gave permission for their names to be used in marketing materials in full knowledge that their association with the scheme would encourage people to invest.

Although investors received some tax-relief from the schemes, a clampdown from Revenue and Customs restricted the amounts they could save, leading to today's compensation claim.

Mr Symons accused Baker Tilly and Mr Shipwright of acting unprofessionally because both were paid commission based on the amounts invested. This made Baker Tilly, which structured the scheme, "a driver of, not adviser to, the scheme".

He said any suggestion that Baker Tilly and Mr Shipwright were not responsible was "a nonsense because a lack of care on their part had already caused the claimants losses".

Baker Tilly and Mr Shipwright declined to comment. The hearing continues.

The film schemes were designed to take advantage of tax breaks introduced in the Finance Act 1997 to encourage investment in the UK film industry.

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