Chartered Accountants Ireland excludes Willie McAteer

Willie McAteer has been excluded from Chartered Accountants Ireland after a disciplinary tribunal found he had brought discredit on himself and his profession. 

The CAI said the former director of finance at Anglo Irish Bank accepted the facts of a formal complaint brought against him by the institute's conduct committee.

It related to transactions between Anglo and Irish Life and Permanent and a loan from Anglo.

The CAI said Mr McAteer "engaged in conduct which he was aware, or ought to have been aware, was inappropriate such as to bring discredit to himself and the profession of accountancy." 

The institute said Mr McAteer has "accepted the appropriate sanction to meet the gravity of his conduct was exclusion from membership." 

It said he has also given an undertaking not to re-apply for membership of the CAI. 

Mr McAteer, who was not present at the disciplinary tribunal today, is to make a contribution of €15,000 plus VAT. 

Former comptroller and auditor general John Purcell was appointed as a special investigator by Chartered Accountants Ireland to compile a report on the matter in 2009. 

In December 2010, he found that there was a prima facie case against Mr McAteer and that he was liable to disciplinary action under the institute's bye-laws and rules.

The proceedings were suspended in 2011, after the CAI received a request to do so, from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. That suspension was lifted last year.

Last December, the former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank Seán FitzPatrick was also excluded from the CAI after a disciplinary tribunal found he had brought discredit on himself and his profession.