Austrian-born financier Mr. Wolfgang Flottl yesterday fired back at British press reports that his Bermuda-based company was linked to the Barings Bank collapse.

Speaking from his New York offices, Mr. Flottl called the Guardian newspaper's report "preposterous'' and "totally outrageous.'' "I don't know Mr. (Nick) Leeson. More important we have no account at Barings Singapore and have had no significant position in the Japanese market since December,'' he told The Royal Gazette . "These are preposterous, ridiculous rumours.'' Meanwhile, reports on the Guardian article appeared to have angered at least one local banker. Bank of Bermuda president Mr. Charles Vaughn-Johnson said the Guardian article was "exceedingly thin and stretches the imagination.'' Furthermore, the article and the Gazette 's reporting of it were "frustrating'' efforts to sell Bermuda and its financial services overseas.

Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul said, "At this stage we have no information whatsoever that would cast any aspersions in that direction, that something is wrong.'' Government currently had no concerns about Mr. Flottl either, Dr. Saul said, adding, "People who are wealthy financiers will always be in the news whether from a jealousy point of view or if there is a problem.'' Asked if British or Singapore authorities had tried to contact him about the alleged link between his Bermuda-based Ross Capital and Mr. Leeson, Mr. Flottl said: "Absolutely not. No one has tried to get hold of me.'' Mr. Flottl said he had "warned'' the Guardian and other British papers that he would take legal action "if people continue to print stories that are not true. I have tried to explain to everyone we are not involved.'' Mr. Flottl, whose Bermuda-based companies Ross Capital and International Asset Management on Bermudiana Road come under the umbrella of Belforte Group Holdings, referred the Gazette to Wall Street Journal and Financial Times newspaper articles which he says back up his claims the rumours arose from fraudulent schemes by Mr. Leeson and a possible false company he set up with a name very similar to Ross Capital.

One article under the headline "Leeson created bogus clients to hoodwink bank,'' reports: "Nick Leeson created thousands of fake contracts on behalf of a mass of fictitious clients in a desperate bid to hide the gaping financial hole which was to engulf Barings.'' And a Times article, referring to reports that "Leeson may have been dealing with a speculative investment fund run out of Bermuda,'' said: "Mr. Peter Baring, chairman of the bank, had suggested Mr. Leeson may have had an associate who built up a short position while he built up a long position so strong that Barings could not sustain it.

"When Barings failed the putative associate would have been able to cover his short at a profit.'' Mr. Baring has contended the collapse may be the result of an act of deliberate sabotage involving the wrecking of the bank by exploiting the differential between a "long'' position based on a rising market and a "short'' position that bets on a falling market.

The article goes on: "It is thought a Bermudian fund holds the short position. Ross Capital was originally cited by the Wall Street Journal. One theory is that Mr. Leeson may have established a company with a name similar to Ross Capital ...'' "There's nothing secret about me,'' he said in answer to claims he was "secretive'' and that Ross Capital was "part of a highly secretive web of Bermuda-registered companies'' which he controls.

Mr. Flottl said he intended to keep his companies here, although he moved full-time to New York in January with his wife, Barbara Anne, granddaughter of the late US President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

"I like Bermuda and many of my traders like to live in Bermuda,'' he said.

Mr. Flottl, who is in partnership with Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan to build the proposed Seon Place luxury office block on Front Street, said he was in the process of selling one of his two Tuckers Town homes. The other he intended to keep for visits.

He said that despite the Guardian saying Ross Capital "could have been unwittingly involved in irregular trades by Mr. Leeson,'' the overall content of the story was "unpleasant'' for him. "It's incredible. I couldn't believe it (when I found out about the article).'' Under the banner headline, "Barings' rogue trader alleged to have Bermuda link,'' the leading UK paper the Guardian reported in a front page article yesterday: "Allegations that the trader at the heart of the Barings bank collapse had links with an unorthodox Bermuda-based investment firm, Ross Capital, are at the heart of an internal investigation into how the city's oldest investment house was brought to its knees with debts of more than (Pounds) 750 million.'' An inside story goes into detail about Flottl's opulent lifestyle and "high society image in Bermuda,'' noting neighbours to his "sprawling estate'' include Ross Perot and a former Italian prime minister.

Flottl was in the news last summer concerning his companies' involvement in investment transactions with the Austrian Bank fur Arbeit und Wirtschaft (Bawag), of which his father, Mr. Walter Flottl, is chairman.

The relationship, which lasted six years and involved loans to Flottl's companies from his father's bank, was under investigation by Austrian bank regulators.