failed insurer Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. complete an "illegal'' transaction, it was claimed yesterday.

The claim was made by lawyer Gabriel Moss as Bermuda Fire's liquidators as they launched a Supreme Court lawsuit aimed at seizing assets they claim were wrongfully stripped out of the company to create profitable local company BF&M Ltd.

The liquidators are claiming unspecified monetary damages against the company's former directors William Cox, Donald Lines, Greg Haycock, Michael Collier and Charles Collis, who died in February last year.

They are also suing law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman and accounting firm Cooper & Lines. The firms acted as the professional advisors to Bermuda Fire (BFMIC).

The liquidators claim the directors and the firms knew that Bermuda Fire was insolvent when BF&M was created.

Full story: Business, Page 27 BUSINESS BUC