24 DECEMBER 1965, Page 16

Issues Raised by the BPC Affair

Our issue of December 10 contained as an adver- tisement by the Sunday Telegraph a reprint of an article by their City Editor ,Kenneth Fleet which had been published in that newspaper on Decem- ber 5.

The Westminster Bank have pointed out that they were largely instrumental in securing the appoint- ment of Cooper Bros. as joint auditors and since July took a leading part in ensuring that the whole matter was fully and properly investigated.

Mr. Fleet in this week's issue of the Sunday Telegraph expressed his regret if anyone might have read the article (which expressed criticism of city institutions for deprecating earlier publicity con- cerning board room disagreements) as suggesting anything to the contrary, as certainly nothing.of the kind was intended. The Westminster Bank have been zealous in securing a thorough investigation into the affairs of the British Printing Corporation.

The advertisement was of course published by us in good faith. Nonetheless we have no hesitation in associating ourselves with Mr. Fleet and the Sunday Telegraph in expressing our regret if the advertisement has caused any misunderstanding.