Corporate enforcement office investigates AIBIM

Inquiry: The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) has initiated an investigation into AIB Investment Managers (AIBIM). The director, Mr Paul Appleby, said there were a number of issues to do with what is known about AIBIM which concerned him. He said he would not go into the specifics

When it was put to him that an issue might be the possible facilitation by AIBIM of tax evasion by its clients, Mr Appleby said that was "a reasonable conclusion to be drawn" from what is known but would not comment further.

The possible facilitation by a company of tax evasion by its clients is the suspected offence that led to the appointment of authorised officers to the banks involved in the Ansbacher controversy. Section 19 of the Companies Acts 1990 says that an officer can be appointed when it is suspected that "the affairs of the body are being or have been conducted with intent to defraud... its creditors (or) the creditors of any other person". In the case of Ansbacher, the creditor was the Revenue.

Mr Appleby said that he was loathe to comment on particular cases for legal reasons in case matters gave rise to issues involving his office. He was speaking at a press conference to mark the publication of the 2003 report of the ODCE.

He said AIB had indicated that it was going to co-operate fully with all regulatory authorities and "we are expecting that we will receive full co-operation from AIB in these inquiries".

He said his office was expecting to receive information from AIB this week "which we will be examining carefully".

One of the items noted in the 2003 report is the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding between the ODCE and the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) on the issue of the exchange of information.

Mr Appleby's office was told last Thursday, shortly before AIB issued its first statement on the AIBIM affair, that IFSRA had been involved in an investigation concerning AIBIM. IFSRA was first told by the bank that there was an issue involving AIBIM in September 2003.

Mr Appleby said he was not concerned by the delay in his office being notified. "The primary regulator in this area is IFSRA."

He said there was more for his office to evaluate given the matters that had entered the public domain since Thursday.

"I would not have been able to act until the (AIB/IFSRA) investigation was complete," he said. "As far as I am concerned there was no issue in relation to time being lost for me."

Mr Appleby said the authorised officer's inquiry into Dunnes Stores Ireland Company and Dunnes Stores (ILAC Centre) Ltd was ongoing, with documentation being supplied as requested by the officer, Mr Cyril Houlihan. The inquiry was held up for a number of years because of legal challenges from the Dunnes group but these ended in May 2003. Mr Appleby said he did not have a view as to how much longer the inquiry would take but it would certainly take a few more months.

A second section 19 inquiry is being conducted by his office into a "middle-ranking" company, which Mr Appleby did not want to identify. The decision in December 2003 to appoint the officer "arose from a report by an auditor which disclosed suspected criminal offences by a director of that company over a protracted period".

Mr Appleby said this latest authorised officer's inquiry is a matter that arose from the Ansbacher controversy.

The 2003 report shows there has been a very significant rise in the amount of work being processed by Mr Appleby's office and he said a review is under way into staffing requirements. The office employed an average of 37 people during 2003.