Relief shall be granted only to organisations the accounting procedures of which enable the competent authorities to supervise their operations and which offer all the guarantees considered necessary.

With respect to the $54 billion notional cumulative surplus prior to 2009, this is simply a bookkeeping entry reflecting the difference in prior credits and debits in the account.

1. Entries shall be made using the double entry method, whereby any movement or variation recorded in the accounts shall be represented by an entry establishing an equivalence between the amount debited and the amount credited in the various accounts affected by that entry.

In the light of the information submitted by the State on the specific character of these deposits, in particular the fact that the transactions relating to them are public documents, the Commission considered that the State was granting Crédit Agricole aid from State resources.

The Court highlights a number of operations which have not been disclosed in the accounts including:- the transfer of 111 Mio ECU to a blocked account in respect of Somalia [3.21] a transfer to be reversed, 12 Mio ECU [3.22a] utilizations from the 6th EDF to be compensated at a later stage, 45.5 Mio ECU [3.22] various blocked/frozen funds, 63.5 Mio ECU [3.23/24] Stabex transfers and operations in support of structural adjustment are not presented in a way which makes clear the actual level of utilization [3.40] Uncleared advances are not shown separately in the accounts [3.43 - 3.46].

One held the American Express card franchise in New Zealand; the other held the Diner's Club franchise in New Zealand.