Taipei  - Taiwan on Tuesday suspended the operations of the local unit of the investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and said it might help Taiwan investors seek damages from its US-based parent company.

On the order of the Financial Supervisory Commission, investigators went to Lehman Brothers' Taipei office to check the company's financial records.

The commission ordered the Taiwan office to suspend operations until the parent company's financial crisis is over.

"There are no irregularities in Lehman Brothers' financial activities in Taiwan, but because of its financial situation in the US, we have to carry out the check," the Central News Agency quoted an unnamed official from the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp as saying.

Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest US investment bank, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday after failing to find a buyer. Crippled by 60 billion US dollars in soured real-estate debt, it became the latest victim of more than a year of turmoil arising from the collapse of the US housing bubble and a high rate of mortgage defaults, which undermined Wall Street's market for mortgage-backed securities.

Taiwan's institutional and retail investors have about 80 billion Taiwan dollars (2.5 billion US dollars) of exposure in Lehman investments.

Some Taiwan investors have asked the commission to freeze the assets of Lehman Brothers' Taiwan office to cover their potential losses, but the commission said that if there are losses, the parent company is responsible, not its unit in Taiwan.

The commission added that if there is a need, it would help Taiwan investors seek damages from the parent company. (dpa)