Enforcer cleared to use PwC probe in Bovale case

THE High Court has ruled that the Director of Corporate Enforcement is entitled to rely on an investigation by accountants PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) into the affairs of Bovale Developments Ltd over a two year period in his bid to have developer brothers Michael and Thomas Bailey disqualified from managing any company on grounds of alleged misconduct and fraud in relation to the affairs of Bovale.

However, Ms Justice Mary Irvine also held the Director is not legally entitled to use certain other materials, including reports of the planning tribunal, as additional evidence of wrongdoing by the brothers or evidence of alleged wrongdoing over a 12 year period from 1988 to 2000.

The judge further ruled that a District Court production order issued under Section 63 of the Criminal Justice Act 1994, under which certain documents relating to the Bovale companies were seized by gardaí from certain financial institutions in 2002, was invalid.