It does seem on the face of it inappropriate that the Solicitor General should be the person who investigates on behalf of the law officers whether the case was handled properly."The Treasury Select Committee is taking evidence from the lawyers on both sides of the case before hearing "revised" evidence from Mr Staple on 11 July. Now, in answer to questions from the Labour MP, Mike O'Brien, he said his denial was "cleared by the Solicitor General", who later investigated claims that the denial was misleading.The Solicitor General is a Queen's Counsel - a leading barrister - in the chambers of Mr Cocks, the SFO's barrister in the Levitt case. George Staple, the director of the SFO, is to re-appear before the Treasury Select Committee of MPs next month to explain why he "did not recall" that he had discussed possible pleas by Levitt with prosecuting counsel David Cocks QC soon after the trial began.At the time of the case, Sir Nicholas Lyell, the Attorney-General, denied that the SFO had authorised a plea bargain. JOHN RENTOUL Political Correspondent Sir Derek Spencer, the Solicitor General, has been drawn into the growing row over the Government's refusal to admit that the Serious Fraud Office authorised a deal with lawyers defending Roger Levitt, the failed investment adviser.Levitt, facing a jail sentence on fraud charges, walked free from court in 1993 after pleading guilty to a minor charge. Kevin alone denies conspiring with his father to defraud the pension funds by misusing pounds 100m of investments The trial continues on Monday..

He has been very ill and the judge allowed him to be spared the ordeal of a normal court hearing.In the dock are Kevin Maxwell, his brother, Ian, and two former Maxwell aides, Larry Trachtenberg and Robert Bunn All deny conspiracy to defraud. He replied that Maxwell was one of the firm's biggest clients, paying huge sums in accountancy and audit fees, and when Maxwell telephoned the firm's top people for help he expected them to deal with the matter immediately no matter what inconvenience it caused.Mr Walsh's evidence was recorded on video a few days ago and shown in open court yesterday. Asked about Bishopsgate Investment Management - the group company which handled the pension fund - Mr Walsh said dealing with the accounts of such a company was regarded as a "high- risk audit" because the funds could be open to fraud if the company was not managed properly.But in the many years he had dealt with Robert Maxwell he had never come across anything that was "untoward".Asked what risks such a company faced in the event of the sudden death of the proprietor, the accountant replied that was not a matter he had considered.Mr Jones inquired if Coopers' standards dropped because of the dominating character of the tycoon. They might demand their right to that cash but Maxwell made sure he won any "battle" over who had the surplus, and it was not the pensioners.On the other hand, Mr Walsh had never heard him say that he regarded the pension fund money as his own. So, if the investments earnt surplus funds he would ignore any attempt by the pensioners to get extra benefits.

"But we do the same for other clients."Mr Walsh said he did not discover the minute of the meeting granting sole powers to the former Mirror Group Newspapers boss until after he was found dead in the Atlantic on 5 November 1991.The court was also given an insight into the way Maxwell regarded the huge investments of Mirror pension funds.Mr Walsh said that as proprietor of his empire Maxwell considered he had put up most of the money for pension fund investments. Coopers had audited Maxwell's businesses for 18 years before his death."That is an unfair and inaccurate remark," snapped Mr Walsh. However, he agreed with Alun Jones QC that the Maxwell audit was extremely important business for the accountants "If Robert Maxwell said jump, Coopers jumped," he said. They have enough horrible problems without us adding to them This is a rare occasion when we've been gentle.".

JOHN WILLCOCK Financial Correspondent After Robert Maxwell's death it was discovered that the tycoon had been appointed "a committee of one" running his business empire as far back as November 1981, an Old Bailey jury was told yesterday.It gave Maxwell the right to make decisions without consulting any other directors, said Peter Walsh, from the auditors Coopers & Lybrand.Mr Walsh, giving evidence on day 23 of the trial of Kevin and Ian Maxwell, also bitterly rejected suggestions by Kevin's defence counsel that Coopers had "dropped its standards" because of Maxwell's dominating character. But even though Richey's only missing, they've been very low key," said Mr Bailie.Likewise, when the music press hacks run into members of the band, talking about Richey is almost taboo "We see them out quite a bit But no-one asks about Richey. It was felt 'let's not make a big thing about it'."Even their record company had resisted the urge to cash in on the noteriety of his dis- appearance. "When someone dies record companies usually whip out a couple of compilation albums and fill the shops They love cashing in on corpses. Then when Richey disappeared everybody took it very emotionally.