A retired accountant who says he is now spending his time doing charity work is the first ICAEW member to come before its new public discipliniaries.

The tribunal, to be held next Tuesday, concerns Ehsan Malik. He is charged with failing to ensure his firm, Ehsan Malik & Co, complied with conditions to provide the results of external ‘hot file’ reviews on several companies for accounts with year ends between 2001 and 2003.

Several of these accounts were signed off by him even though he denied working on the audits, according to a second charge.

Malik, who said he was now retired and based in Gibraltar undertaking charity work, told Accountancy Age that the dispute was ‘longstanding’ and he would defend himself.

The first public tribunals will be keenly observed by those who have raised concerns that the institute has not revised its procedures in relation to human rights law since Michael Beloff QC adjudged the scheme was compliant in 1999.

The ICAEW said there had been no successful human rights-related challenges to the scheme since the Human Rights Act 1998 became effective in 2000.