Devereux Chambers' Jonathan Fisher QC has been appointed as a specialist adviser to the Treasury Select Committee's inquiry into the Co-operative Bank's failed bid for 632 Lloyds branches.

The inquiry into 'Project Verde', which was launched last June, is keen to publish a report of its findings as soon as possible, Legal Week understands.

A specialist in civil and criminal fraud, tax evasion and financial regulation, Fisher was instructed for a similar advisory role to the Treasury Select Committee when he was called on to provide legal assistance over the LIBOR scandal in 2012.

"I think my role is relatively benign actually," Fisher told Legal Week. "I'm there to help them through the legal framework to the events surrounding Project Verde and the Co-op bid.

"There is also some quite complex evidence that has come out which the committee wants handling properly, and one or two instances where witnesses aren't necessarily saying the same thing.

Financial advisers from KPMG and JP Morgan have already been grilled by MPs on their roles on Project Verde, though the Treasury Committee decided not to call for evidence from law firms.

However, as detailed in a Legal Week report earlier this month, law firms advising on Project Verde and the Co-operative Bank could be forced to give evidence before a separate Treasury investigation into the lender, which was announced by Chancellor George Osborne in November.

The Treasury investigation will begin on the conclusion of ongoing enforcement investigations by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which are expected to take several months.

The independent inquiry would likely request evidence from both Allen & Overy (A&O), the long-standing adviser to the Co-op Group, and Clifford Chance (CC), which took a role for the Co-op Bank on its £750m bid for 632 Lloyds branches in 2012.

The Co-op Group lost control of its banking arm in November 2013, after majority ownership of the financial institution transferred to a consortium of hedge funds.