The Institute of Chartered Accountants is preparing to summon several accountants to appear before a disciplinary committee due to be set up later this month. The ICAI said yesterday that it has decided to carry out a full investigation into whether any of its members are guilty of professional misconduct in the light of the McCracken Tribunal Report. ICAI members named in the McCracken Report include former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey; Dunnes Stores trustee, Mr Noel Fox; and the Dublin accountancy firm, Oliver Freaney, which acted as financial consultants to Dunnes Stores and were auditors to Mr Micheal Lowry's refrigeration company, Streamline. However, the ICAI would make no comment on which of its members would be investigated.
Mr Haughey is still a member of the ICAI, although it is believed he has not paid his nominal annual membership fee for some time. Following a meeting of its investigation committee, the ICAI said it has decided to set up a quasi-judicial disciplinary hearing where certain of its members will be called to answer questions in relation to their role in the transactions investigated by the tribunal.
The disciplinary hearing will particularly focus on the role of its members where the tribunal uncovered tax evasion or a conflict of interest.
In a statement, the State's biggest accountancy body said it would not be commenting further on specific aspects of the conduct of individual members in relation to this case until its investigation and disciplinary processes have been fully exercised. The ICAI council is expected to appoint a special disciplinary committee after its next scheduled meeting on September 26th. This committee must be chaired by a lawyer and is likely not to include any of the Institute's own members.
The committee will have full powers to recommend sanctions against any members found to have acted in breach of its professional code. The ICAI has 10,000 members and claims to monitor the activities of all its members. Last year, it investigated 26 cases referred to it. In some cases where accountants are found guilty of professional misconduct, it will withdraw their right to practise or temporarily suspend their membership. For a practising accountant, the withdrawal of practising rights is the ultimate sanction.