Accountant struck off CIPFA for ?44m gamble
An accountant has been struck off CIPFA for using more than ?44m of the local council’s funds to play the stockmarket
Andrew Pate, an accountant at Newcastle-under-Lyme council, has been struck
off the Chartered Institute
of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) register for misconduct after he
was discovered having used more ?44m of the council’s funds in 2004 to play the
stockmarket, increasing its debts from £22.6m to £66.8m.
Pate took out loans in the council’s name and invested them through a
friend’s stockbroker business, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Pate’s misconduct hearing was told that, although he did not make any money
from his actions, he exposed the council to ‘unnecessary financial risk’, by
bringing their borrowing above the statutory allowed limit.
The CIPFA disciplinary committee said Pate had ‘deliberately disregarded’ his
professional responsibilities and found he committed a ‘very considerable breach
of trust’.
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the Daily Telegraph story