IN May last year, the Zurich District Court in Switzerland sent a letter to Bank Century. It informed the bank that a claim was being petitioned by Tarquin Limited, a company listed in the Cayman Islands in the amount of US$155 million in Dresdner Bank. That money, as it turned out, was the guarantee given by Rafat Ali Rizvi, a former shareholder of Bank Century, when he attempted to liquidate the bank at one time.

Bank Century—which has now b