HK court asked to step in on Lehman minibonds probe
HONG KONG, June 11 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's securities watchdog said it has sought court intervention to direct Lehman Brothers Asia Ltd to produce documents that could aid its investigation into the minibonds fiasco.
The case had been scheduled for court directions on July 22, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said in a statement.
Investors in Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia have expressed outrage that the bond-like products they bought were actually complex derivatives that led to huge losses for many of them.
The SFC said Lehman, which is undergoing liquidation, had objected to the production of certain "privileged" documents containing an internal committee's assessment of new products, including the minibonds -- credit-linked notes related to the collapsed U.S. bank.
A spokeswoman in Hong Kong for Nomura International Hong Kong Ltd was not immediately available to comment. Nomura bought Lehman's Asian, European and Middle Eastern assets last year after the collapse of the Wall Street bank (LEHMQ.PK).
Discussions between the SFC and the liquidators and lawyers of Lehman Brothers since December 2008 had not resolved the claims of privilege, the SFC added. (Reporting by Nerilyn Tenorio; Editing by Chris Lewis and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
