An international counterfeiting gang tried to con the Bank of England out of £28 billion with “special issue” £500,000 notes that they had invented, a court was told yesterday.

They wanted the Bank to pay them the face value for thousands of forged notes, also including £1,000 notes - a denomination that had not been legal tender for more than 60 years. Southwark Crown Court was told that only 63 of the notes remain unaccounted for by the Bank of England.

Members of the gang told bank officials that they were representatives of Chinese families from the preCommunist era who owned the money and wished to exchange it.

They said that only six owners were left - ranging from 109 to 116 years of age - “so time is of the essence, every day counts”, the jury was told.

But their plan was undone by a number of errors: there never was a £500,000 note, they referred to the bank in documents as the “England Bank” and they did not correctly forge the signature of Sir Jasper Quintus Hollom, the chief cashier of the Bank of England, the court was told. He always used his first two initials when signing his name rather than just the second that the gang used.

The money they claimed to possess represented more than two thirds of all sterling in circulation, Martin Evans, for the prosecution, told the court.

He said: “This case concerns what the prosecution say was an audacious plan to present counterfeit pieces of paper that resembled, the prosecution say only slightly resembled, banknotes to persuade the Bank of England to honour a promise to pay the bearer on demand.

“It will not surprise you to know there never was a £500,000 note but that there was a £1,000 note – it was issued until 1943 when they were withdrawn,” he said.

He said that very few people were lucky enough to have a £1,000 note because they were collected up after they were withdrawn and there was only a small number outstanding. There were 63 left in 1968, and the bank knew that no one could have as many as 100, far less 500, he said.

“It will not surprise you to know the Bank of England contacted the City of London Police,” he said. The £1,000 note would be “a very choice collector’s item”. Mr Evans said: “As a matter of strict technicality, the name of counterfeit only applies to a note that has been legal tender, so actually the £500,000 note you see in this case would be better referred to as a thing.”

When the gang asked for a meeting, police set up a hidden camera and audio to record the meeting.

The alleged conspiracy started in December 2005 when Ross Cowie e-mailed the bank saying that he was an Australian lawyer acting on behalf of a family who had a number of £1,000 notes. He said in later e-mails that they had been holding back and also had £500,000 notes.

When the bank replied that as far as it knew no £500,000 notes had ever been issued, he claimed that they were a special edition.

The defendants, Ross Cowie, 62, of West Kensington, West London, who described himself as an Australian lawyer, Chin “Daniel” Lim, 50, of Bromley, southeast London, Kim Teo, 41, of Finchley, North London, said to be another solicitor, Ping Mak, 56, and Kwok Chan, 55, both of Streatham, South London, and Chi Chung, 53, of Shepherds Bush, West London, all deny one count of conspiring to defraud the bank between December 1, 2006, and March 27 this year.

The case, expected to last eight weeks, continues.

Note of distinction

— The Bank of England claims that the new £20 note it issued on March 13, featuring the Scottish economist Adam Smith, is its most secure yet

— Advanced security features include a metallic thread that appears as silver dashes to the naked eye but transforms into a continuous line when held to the light

— A holographic strip on the front can be tilted to show an image of Adam Smith and a multicoloured “£20”

— In the corner of the banknote there is a watermark, which carries an image of the Queen’s head and a £20 sign

— “Bank of England” and the figure 20 in the bottom right-hand corner of the front are both raised

— Microlettering underneath the Queen displays “20” when viewed under a magnifying glass

— All lines and images are free of smudging and blurred edges. The figure 20 on the front turns bright red and green while the surrounding paper darkens when placed under ultraviolet light

— The note carries irregular shapes that form the pound sign

Source: Bank of England, Times database

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