Accountant Alan Hynes fails to overturn professional ban

Disgraced accountant Alan Hynes yesterday failed in his bid to overturn a ruling barring him from his profession.

Last year a tribunal of the Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board (Carb) excluded him from the Institute of Chartered Accountants after a hearing sparked by complaints from investors who lost more than €18 million on a number of his property ventures.

An appeal tribunal threw out his challenge to the original ruling yesterday and it is understood that the regulatory board will meet today to decide on a number of issues, including costs.

At the original hearing, the disciplinary tribunal ruled that he should pay €500,000 of the costs associated with the inquiry.

Following the hearing in the institute’s headquarters in Dublin, a spokesman for the board said that “Carb can confirm that the appeal lodged by Alan Hynes was dismissed”. He did not go into any further detail.

Last year the board made multiple findings of misconduct against Mr Hynes and decided that he should be barred from the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Just under 12 months ago, Carb’s disciplinary tribunal found he had been in breach of codes of ethics and principles that were meant to guide the profession in integrity, competence and truthfulness.

‘Unmitigated failures’

Criticisms of Mr Hynes in the original ruling included breaches of the institute’s code, “unmitigated failures” in relation to his dealings with clients and “unconscionable behaviour” in relation to those with whose money he dealt. Over the course of a 14-day hearing in 2014, the tribunal heard that investors put millions of euro into

Tuskar Asset Management

and other property ventures that Mr Hynes controlled.

Much of the money was lost. The backers included clients of his Wexford accountancy practice. One investor, John Power, of Power Life and Pensions, Crossabeg, Co Wexford, told the tribunal the actions of Mr Hynes had consequences ranging from "bankruptcy to death". The tribunal found that Mr Hynes's actions brought discredit on his profession.

In one “unconscionable act”, he secured a €1 million investment from a pensioner when he was “desperate” to secure funding for Tuskar Asset Management, which subsequently went into liquidation.

The tribunal found that Mr Hynes had been lacking in integrity and truthfulness and that he had failed to account for €3.1 million of investors’ funds.

His legal team said had become overstretched during the boom years and there was a sense that he was a “creature of his time”.