Jyske staff had ‘no obligation’ to scrutinise Marrache transactions, court told

Jyske Bank employees who oversaw Marrache & Co’s accounts until the law firm collapsed were under “no obligation” to scrutinise or report client account transactions, an expert witness told the Supreme Court yesterday.
Evidence in the month-long legal wrangle lodged by liquidators concluded yesterday afternoon, after the final two witnesses took to the stand.
The expert witnesses told the court Jyske Bank employees did not need to know rules governing law firm’s accounts and would not generally question the underlying purpose of transactions.
Jyske Bank is being sued by liquidators Edgar Lavarello and Adrian Hyde for £6.7m, with millions more sought in interest following the collapse of solicitors firm Marrache & Co in 2010.
The law firm’s collapse led to the conviction of its senior partners Benjamin, Isaac and Solomon Marrache for fraud.
The bank managed the office and client accounts for Marrache & Co for a nine year period leading up to its collapse.
The court heard evidence from former Deputy Chief Executive Officer David Parody at the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission and Richard Palette, who works as a banking expert witness and has almost 40 years’ experience in financial services.
David Alexander, QC, acting on behalf of the liquidators, questioned the experts on whether Jyske Bank employees should have notified the relevant authorities when client accounts became overdrawn.
“I would not necessarily have expected Jyske Bank employees to know about solicitor account rules,” Mr Parody told the court.
“My knowledge as a regulator on solicitor account rules was zero.”
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