lawyer for the company's provisional liquidators.

Mr. Alan Dunch of Appleby, Spurling and Kempe said he agreed to postpone his examination of the men, which was scheduled for yesterday in Supreme Court chambers.

The questioning of Mr. Richard Burns, Mr. Thomas Burns, and Mr. Christopher Donnachie was opposed by their lawyer, Mr. Julian Hall. He described the planned examination as "a fishing expedition''.

Mr. Dunch said: "I have agreed with Mr. Hall to defer these examinations for the time being.'' But he retained the right to proceed with the court-ordered examinations when he chose, Mr. Dunch said.

More than 500 Bermudian investors were left in the lurch when Televest and other companies were placed in provisional liquidation by the Supreme Court in December.

Provisional liquidators Kempe & Whittle Ltd. have said investors had a stake of $8.3 million in Televest.

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

But payment of dividends and redemption of shares was halted shortly before Christmas.

Televest was owned by Telecheck Holdings Ltd., a company that operated 10,000 Signature and Travel Card credit cards. Telecheck's cheque approval service for merchants processed more than 25,000 cheque transactions per week.

A day before provisional liquidators were named for those two companies, the related companies TBL Ltd. and CTRAK Ltd. were put in the same boat in response to petitions from United Kingdom creditors. The apparent failure of the four companies was described as a chain reaction.

A petition to wind up a fifth related company, Compuguide Ltd., was later added.

A hearing date on the petitions to wind up the companies has not been set. The UK claims are said to be in the millions of dollars.

Mr. Hall, who has alleged a "conspiracy'' to shut down the Televest companies when their financial situations did not warrant such action, said a recent "slip of the tongue'' by Mr. Dunch to a ZBM News reporter supported his view.

Mr. Dunch told the reporter: "It was because we were concerned about the plight of the preference shareholders that this group of companies was put into liquidation in the first place.'' "Who is we?'' Mr. Hall asked. Price Waterhouse in the Channel Islands, which began the liquidation actions with its claim against CTRAK, would have no reason to be concerned about Televest investors, Mr. Hall said.

Someone in Bermuda had "the goal and the desire to wind up the entire group of companies,'' he said.

And "the one thing that destroys the preferred shareholders' prospects more than anything else was putting these companies into liquidation,'' he said.

"All these companies were fine until these companies were put into liquidation.'' Mr. Dunch said he could not recall the exact words he used with the reporter, but nothing turned on them in any case. All that was relevant was whether the companies were solvent.

"Any inference, however, that my law firm is acting with an ulterior motive is one that I would take the strongest exception to,'' Mr. Dunch said.

Meanwhile, an undertaking that was ordered by Chief Justice the Hon. Austin Ward to cover damages in case it was found the liquidation petitions should not have been brought was still not forthcoming, Mr. Hall said.

He believed Price Waterhouse was balking at putting up the security. On that basis, he would apply in Supreme Court today to have both the provisional liquidators and the winding-up petitions dismissed, he said.

Calls to Price Waterhouse in the Channel Islands yesterday were not returned.