Ex-manager at Ernst & Young reprimanded

A former senior manager at Ernst & Young has been severely reprimanded by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI).

Oliver Flanagan, who admitted a charge of criminal obstruction before a California court in 2003 , has since resigned from the audit firm. An ICAI disciplinary tribunal yesterday announced that Mr Flanagan could not hold a practising certificate for a period of three years. The 38-year-old was also severely reprimanded and ordered to pay costs of almost €5,400.

The ruling means, in effect, that Mr Flanagan cannot set up a business as a chartered accountant although he is not restricted from being employed as an accountant.

Yesterday's ruling follows a hearing early last month.

Mr Flanagan was one of the three Ernst & Young auditors investigated by US authorities over the collapse of consumer lending group NextCard.

Mr Flanagan admitted assisting Thomas Trauger, an Ernst & Young partner in charge of the NextCard audit, who was jailed earlier this year for tampering with the company's financial records.

Trauger was accused of altering the documents after banking regulators raised doubts about accounting practices at the San Francisco-based lender in 2001. The prosecution alleged he later destroyed evidence to conceal his action and subsequently lied to regulators about his actions.

Mr Flanagan, who was accused of being involved in making the alterations and, on Trauger's instructions, destroying documents and emails, provided evidence that led to the arrest of Trauger. In August 2003, he admitted obstructing the banking regulator - the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency of the Department of the Treasury.

Mr Flanagan also settled a civil suit by the Securities and exchange Commission (SEC) which accused him of engaging in unethical and improper conduct in violation of professional standards. He agreed to an SEC order prohibiting him from auditing public companies for three years.

Mr Flanagan's US lawyer Stanley Arkin said at the time the case broke that the Irish accountant was an honest man "who didn't have a very good mentor". Mr Flanagan returned to Ireland shortly after settling the SEC case in late 2003.