The NSW Supreme Court has given the HIH liquidator three weeks to provide a final list of key witnesses in its case against several companies and identities.

In last Thursday’s directions hearing, Justice Patricia Bergin ordered McGrath Nicol to provide names of witnesses by March 26.

The liquidator has brought the $529 million damages claim over HIH’s 1998 purchase of FAI. The claim represents the $295 million HIH paid, plus interest.

The nine defendants include former FAI CEO Rodney Adler and shadow treasurer and former Goldman Sachs Australia MD and Chairman Malcolm Turnbull. Fifteen cross-claims have also been lodged.

Reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter’s solicitor told the hearing the case hinges on whether HIH CEO Ray Williams ran the company as a “one-man show”, bypassing the insurer’s board.

And McGrath Nicol’s barrister, Alan Sullivan, outlined part of the case against Goldman Sachs, alleging the company failed to provide the correct advice to FAI at the time of the takeover.

The trial is set to get under way next year.