ST. JOHN'S, Antigua (Reuters) - C.A.S. Hewlett & Co, the small Antiguan firm that Texas billionaire Allen Stanford identified as the auditors of his offshore bank, said yesterday it had no information about ties to the tycoon accused of fraud.

St. John's-based Hewlett has been identified by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as the auditors of Stanford's $8 billion offshore bank, but executives there provided little indication they even knew who Stanford was.

The current manager, Eugene Perry, at CAS Hewlett in the Antiguan capital, said yesterday the firm's former chief executive, Charlesworth (Shelley) Hewlett, is the only person with possible knowledge of a relationship to Stanford.

But getting any information from Shelley Hewitt is not likely. He died on January 1 at the age of 73.

Perry said he never met Stanford in his 10 years working at the firm. He spoke with a Reuters reporter in the late Hewlett's personal office and telephoned a woman he identified as the company's principal.

"We are not privy to any information about any relationship with Stanford," said the woman, who would only identify herself as Celia. Asked if she was aware of any files at the firm associated with Stanford, she said she was not.

Hewlett's daughter, named Celia, took over responsibility for the accounting firm from London after her father died.