The Telecheck group of companies should never have been ordered wound up, the lawyer for the owners said yesterday.

Bermudian investors were never at risk of losing a cent until the "military-style operation'' against Telecheck Holdings Ltd., Televest Ltd., and two related companies was carried out, Mr. Julian Hall told The Royal Gazette .

Mr. Hall has been retained by Mr. Richard Burns, Mr. Thomas Burns, and Mr.

Christopher Donnachie -- directors of companies ordered wound up by the Supreme Court last Wednesday.

Telecheck offered a cheque approval service for merchants and operated more than 10,000 Signature and Travel Card credit cards. Televest, which was started to raise capital for Telecheck, owes over $6 million to more than 500 Bermudian investors.

Investors bought preferred shares and were promised annual returns of seven to nine percent. The shares were to be redeemable upon 14 days notice.

Mr. Charles Kempe, senior partner in provisional liquidators Kempe & Whittle Ltd., has said investors would receive a return. But it was too soon to say how much of their money would be recouped.

Yesterday Mr. Hall said his clients wanted investors to "receive the entirety of the return that they had contracted to receive.

"The only reason that the investors' positions have been imperilled is because Mr. Kempe and those for whom he acted and those who advised him took it upon themselves to take this precipitate action without justification,'' he said.

If there were financial losses, "those responsible for bringing that loss will have to know that they will be held accountable in a court of law.'' In response, Mr. Kempe said last night that he and Mr. Gil Tucker had been appointed joint provisional liquidators and "I am unable to make confrontational and shall we say speculative statements about this particular case.

"If Mr. Hall has submissions he wishes to make to the court, I'm quite sure the court will give them due weight.'' A Supreme Court hearing on the liquidations of Telecheck, Televest, CTRAK Ltd., and TBL Ltd. is set for December 29. Mr. Hall said he would be ready then to show the actions were unjustified.

Televest had "little or no indebtedness,'' and "the investors' capital until this action was taken was fully backed by substantial assets in the form of receivables due to the company in the ordinary course of business.'' Mr. Hall also questioned whether there was a valid United Kingdom claim against CTRAK and TBL -- the two Telecheck companies that were ordered liquidated one day before Telecheck and Televest were.

One UK creditor -- Sarnia Mutual Investments Ltd. of Guernsey -- could "owe CTRAK currently a great deal more than is notionally owed to them.'' The claim against CTRAK is said to be about $2 million. But Mr. Hall said Sarnia had promised CTRAK financing of up to $10 million.

CTRAK and TBL were ordered liquidated after petitions were received from Sarnia Mutual and Dominion International Properties PLC of the UK. Telecheck was ordered wound up after a petition was received from Kempe & Whittle, acting as the provisional liquidators of TBL, Mr. Hall said.

But Televest was alleged to have asked for its own liquidation, Mr. Hall said.

"At no time did the company give any such instructions.'' Telecheck Holdings owned 11,998 Televest shares, while the Burns brothers each owned one.

In the Senate on Friday, Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul was slammed for "callousness'' in the face of the Telecheck crisis.

The Progressive Labour Party's Sen. Terry Lister said he was "appalled'' to hear Dr. Saul say "private companies come and go''.

"People's life savings should not be handled in such a callous manner, and the Minister's comments were callous, careless, about these people.'' He referred to a story in the Bermuda Sun on April 14, 1989, which he said concerned Telecheck taking a one-third stake in Telecheck Caymans.

It had suggested that the Bermuda company had invested $1.2 million in Telecheck Caymans.

He was not suggesting anything improper had taken place. "But someone should be telling us something about Telecheck Caymans when we've got Bermudians of all ages and all backgrounds who are now losing $6 million.'' Sen. Grant Gibbons said it remained to be seen if there would be any loss of investments.

Government was very concerned about individual investors, and it would probably want to see if additional regulation was necessary on new financial products.

But buyers had to have a good look at the products they were buying. He denied Dr. Saul had been callous -- he had just been trying to make a distinction between banks and deposit companies and the firms in question.