John Palmer, founder of the troubled online retailer Letsbuyit.com, reacted angrily yesterday to reports that the trustees were planning to claim in court today that the company had been deplorable and chaotic, and should be closed down.

The Dutch court-appointed trustees, Van Doorne, are reported to have said that boardroom squabbles were among the reasons for Letsbuyit's demise, with estimated liabilities of 20m euros (£12.8m).

A furious Mr Palmer said the trustees' claims of management problems were inaccurate but did not surprise him. "They wouldn't have a clue," he said last night.

He added that he had not given up hope of persuading them that Letsbuyit, which pools consumers in order to buy goods in bulk at low prices, was a viable business and could survive if given time.

Van Doorne said in a statement: "The coming two weeks up to January 31 will be key factors in determining up to what extent creditors .. will be settled." Letsbuyit's largest creditor is thought to be US technology support company, Sykes, which is owed a total of 7.5m euros (£4.8m).

Other major creditors are understood to include Hewlett Packard, Icon Media and WinEasy, as well as several marketing and hardware companies.

Shares in Letsbuyit all but evaporated yesterday, plummeting 43.48% to 0.26 euros (£0.17) after a trading suspension was lifted by the Frankfurt Neuer Markt. Trade in the stock had been halted on Wednesday when Van Doorne announced it was filing for bankruptcy.

This gives Letsbuyit a market capitalisation of just 4.6m euros (£2.9m) compared with a high in July last year of 115m euros (£74m).

Although Van Doorne has been collaborating with Mr Palmer in an effort to attract a rescue bid for Letsbuyit, the stage now looks set for a showdown between the the trustees and management at the district court in Amsterdam this morning.