I write on behalf of the Accountancy Board regarding the editorial “Accountable, by all accounts” (September 24).
The Accountancy Board strongly denies the unfounded and baseless allegation reported in your editorial that “the government has” in any way “advised (it) to put on hold any investigation… until the related proceedings (criminal inquiries) are over”. The Accountancy Board is an autonomous and independent body regulating the profession of accountants.
It is composed of non-practitioners to ensure that it is independent of statutory auditors and audit firms, still more of the government.
The editorial states that a board member made the above-mentioned groundless statement to your newspaper. The board strongly doubts that this is the case. If in reality a board member said so, s/he would be lying and, possibly, breaking the strict laws of confidentiality, which bring with them onerous penalties.
The board also rebuts that it has failed to act with regard to MEP David Casa’s allegations.