ACCOUNTANCY FIRM Ernst & Young has brought a High Court challenge to an investigation into its conduct as auditors when dealing with loans to directors of Anglo Irish Bank.
The firm is seeking orders halting the inquiry by special investigator John Purcell, who was appointed by the Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ireland.
The President of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, yesterday granted permission to the firm to bring proceedings to quash the appointment of Mr Purcell.
He directed Mr Purcell and the institute should be notified of the application. The case will come back before the court on Monday.
Mr Purcell was appointed following meetings of the board’s complaints committee in 2009, which considered the issue of alleged inappropriate directors’ loans in Anglo and the role of Ernst Young as auditors to the bank. The committee formed the opinion the matter was “one which gave rise to questions of public concern and was also one of complexity and importance”.
The court heard that the firm had been co-operating with the investigation but at the end of last month discovered no actual complaint had been made against it as was required under bylaws governing the board’s process.
When the firm sought clarification about the exact nature of the complaint of misconduct being investigated, it discovered no clear issue had been identified. Instead, the investigator’s initial findings merely referred to media reports.
The firm wants the decision to appoint the special investigator quashed or alternatively orders which would allow the firm access to the investigator’s findings and the right to make submissions before the findings are finalised.
