Newspaper fights iSoft gagging order
Gagging order in place since 2004
The Guardian newspaper has said it will fight a gagging order
preventing it from reporting on information it read in 2004 documents alleged
linked to accounting issues recently revealed by the software group.
The newspaper claimed that in 2004 it had spoken to two sources and saw
documents, which ‘raised a number of serious concerns relating to iSoft’s
accounting treatments in 2004’.
At the time, the then chief executive Tim Whiston told The
Guardian there were no questionable accounting practices at the
company.
It then hired law firm Ashurst to try to prevent The Guardian
publishing information obtained from these documents.
But following iSoft’s admission this month that auditors Deloitte had found
evidence that revenues had been wrongly booked in accounts for the year to April
30 2005 and the previous year, the newspaper said it will now fight to report on
what it saw in the documents.