The Supreme Court ruling against DCC executive chairman Jim Flavin is being examined by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, a body with prosecutorial power in relation to breaches of company law, writes Arthur Beesley, Senior Business Correspondent.
The ruling centres on deals in which DCC - a sales, marketing and business support services group whose interests range from healthcare to energy - made a profit of €85 million on the sale of its stake in fruit group Fyffes in 2000.
In spite of the Supreme Court finding that Mr Flavin held insider information at the time of the transactions, he has been unanimously backed by DCC's board of directors.
Paul Appleby, the Director of Corporate Enforcement, has the power to prosecute people suspected of breaches of the Companies Acts. He can also seek the restriction and disqualification of company directors.
Mr Appleby declined yesterday to say whether any action was warranted on foot of the Supreme Court ruling.
"We are examining the judgment because obviously there are company law issues involved. It is a matter of public record that we had an interest in the case as it was happening, but beyond that I'm not in a position to comment," he said.
There was no comment from DCC last night on Mr Appleby's examination of the case. The judgment may also come before the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which has prosecutorial power in relation to any questionable stock market trades before 2005. However, the office does not comment publicly on any aspect of its work.
The ruling will be discussed today or tomorrow by the Irish Association of Investment Managers (IAIM), the representative body for the investment community. The IAIM oversees corporate governance in listed firms but it has no statutory powers. Its membership includes some of Ireland's largest financial institutions.
In advance of its meeting, the IAIM is understood to have acknowledged in correspondence with its members that some of them may pursue legal actions against DCC because they bought some of its Fyffes shares. The body also advised members that they must consider possible regulatory actions arising from the ruling.
DCC has outlined the reasons for its board's unanimous support for Mr Flavin in a letter to the IAIM. It emerged yesterday that Mr Flavin phoned IAIM chief executive Frank O'Dwyer on Monday and indicated a willingness on the part of DCC's non-executive directors to meet with the association.
However, Mr Flavin believed that the DCC letter might address the main issues. Asked whether it was appropriate for Mr Flavin to initiate personal contact with Mr O'Dwyer, a DCC spokesman said: "The board of DCC has made its position clear in its statement and has nothing more to add."
Mr O'Dwyer said there was nothing unusual or inappropriate in Mr Flavin making phone contact with him. "He merely alerted me to the fact that the letter had been e-mailed to me, that's all. My primary contact with DCC is with the company secretary," he said.
"Contact between the IAIM and DCC on this matter will arise after the IAIM committee has met and that contact will as appropriate be with the company secretary. The fact is I didn't consider it inappropriate for Jim Flavin to ring me and alert me to the fact that the letter was there."
Non-executive members of the DCC board include former Bank of Ireland chief Maurice Keane, former AIB chief Michael Buckley, former Central Bank director Bernard Somers, former CRH chief Tony Barry, and former chair of the Irish Association of Pension Funds Paddy Gallagher. Róisín Brennan, chief of Bank of Ireland subsidiary IBI Corporate Finance, is also a non-executive director.