Colleague 'wrote Quattrone email '

FORMER star Credit Suisse First Boston banker Frank Quattrone has testified that he had not planned to disrupt an official investigation into his bank's initial public offering (IPO) share allocation practices when he sent an email to staff telling them to delete records from their computers.

Quattrone took the witness stand in his second trial, delivering what experts said was a far more convincing performance than in his first trial last year. On that occasion he came close to implicating himself by admitting he was closer to the IPO process than his defence team had claimed.

This time he gave short, mostly yes or no answers to questions fired by prosecuting attorney John Keker. His story was consistent with arguments put forward by his lawyers who contend the email on which the prosecution case is based was drafted by Quattrone's colleague, Richard Char.

Although he had been told there was an investigation, Quattrone said he believed it involved a different part of the bank. He forwarded the email written by Char, to employees, on 5 December, 2000.

Two days later, an in-house lawyer told him it 'conflicted' with a Securities and Exchange Commission subpoena and one from a grand jury. This was the first time CSFB lawyers had spoken to him about the matter, he said.

Despite his performance in his first trial, the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict and the judge declared a mistrial. Quattrone will continue giving evidence today.