Court rules out disqualification of accountant

A Dublin accountant, Patrick McCann, has been told the High Court will not be granting disqualifications against him that were sought by the Director of Corporate Enforcement, Paul Appleby.

Mr McCann is a certified public accountant who practises under the name McCann & Associates. He is a former auditor to a company called Kentford Securities Ltd, a company used by the late Des Traynor to facilitate deposits to, and withdrawals from, the secretive Ansbacher deposits.

The application by Mr Appleby to disqualify Mr McCann from involvement in the management of the affairs of any company, was heard in October. Judgment was reserved at the time.

During a short mention of the matter in December, Mr Justice Michael Peart said he would not be granting the application and would give his detailed ruling at a later date. Mr Justice Peart is expected to deliver his judgment in full on January 17th.

Mr McCann could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

In March of last year Mr McCann lost a bid to stop the application going ahead, on the grounds of delay in bringing the case.

In the case, Mr Appleby claimed Mr McCann had: committed an offence by serving as an auditor to Kentford while being a director of the company; produced materially misstated accounts for Kentford; and issued a false audit opinion. Mr McCann denied the claims.

An authorised officer was appointed to look into Kentford because of its links to the Ansbacher deposits.

Mr Appleby claimed Mr McCann produced a forged letter for the officer, purported to have been signed by Mr Traynor in 1990. Mr McCann denied the claim.

Mr McCann said he relied on information provided by Mr Traynor as to the status of Kentford.

He said that up to his death in 1994, Mr Traynor had been regarded as an honourable man who was well respected in the business community.

Mr McCann had relied on assertions by Mr Traynor that Kentford was a non-trading trust company, holding no assets and having no liabilities.

Mr McCann said Mr Traynor was regarded as an authoritarian figure who maintained and had possession of the books of the company. Mr McCann said he had relied on Mr Traynor's unblemished reputation.

He said Mr Traynor told him transactions involving Kentford were "in and out", were confidential, and "asked me to accept his word - he had a good reputation and I accepted his word".

He said he knew nothing of Kentford's role in the Ansbacher deposits. He said that at the time he was a young accountant and had just qualified. With the benefit of hindsight and 16 years' post-qualification experience, he now believed he should have made more detailed inquiries and found out more about what Kentford did.

Mr McCann said the request to audit Kentford had come from Mr Traynor by way of Sam Field Corbett who ran Management & Investment Services Ltd (MIS), a company services business on Winetavern Street, Dublin.

Mr McCann said he worked for MIS and did not have a relationship with Mr Traynor.