107 company directors penalised during the first 18 months of new agency

Chief executive of the Corporate Enforcement Authority Ian Drennan. 

During its first 18 months in existence the Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) has secured restrictions on 80 company directors and the disqualification of a further 27. 

The CEA was established in July 2022 as Ireland’s company law enforcement agency. It is best known as the organisation leading the investigation into former chief executive of the FAI John Delaney.

In its first annual report, the CEA said that it has received 470 complaints from members of the public as well as over 300 statutory reports from auditors, examiners, and process advisors.

It also received over 1,000 statutory reports from liquidators in respect of insolvent companies and the behaviour of those companies’ directors.

In that time, it has secured the restriction of 80 company directors and the disqualification of a further 27 company directors. It also secured 107 court orders, five search warrants, and effected 12 arrests.

It submitted 12 files to the Director of Public Prosecutions and secured criminal convictions in respect of failing to keep proper books of account and providing false information.

Among the cases brought by the CEA include the charging of a former pastor, Mr Ebenezer Oduntan, who engaged in theft and fraud to steal more than €125,000 from his own Kildare-based church. He was sentenced to seven years in prison having been convicted of 87 counts of theft, deception, and company law offences.

In another case, the CEA charged Dr Andrew Jordan and Mr Christopher Goodey, former chairman and chief executive officer respectively of the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP), with fraudulent trading and failing to keep adequate accounting records.