Ex-Deloitte man punished over casino audit
A former Deloitte partner has been expelled from the ICAEW for 'fraud', while acting as audit partner on a high-rolling London Casino in the 1990s.
Link: Ex-Deloitte man to face probe over casino audit
The news of Stephen Edward Ives’ fate comes amid intense debate over the government’s controversial new gambling bill, currently at standing committee in the House of Commons.
Ives ‘fraudulently obtained’ a Range Rover from Capital Corporation, a Deloitte & Touche audit client that owned the famous Mayfair casino, Crockfords, according to industry watchdog the Joint Disciplinary Scheme (JDS). He has been thrown out of the institute and ordered to pay £87,000 towards the cost of the investigation.
The JDS found that Ives agreed to buy the luxury car from Capital in March 1996, but deducted the £33,500 cost from the audit fee and ‘subsequently manipulated the books of D&T to conceal the fact that Capital’s cheque in discharge of D&T’s fees was £33,500 less than it should have been’.
The punishment of Ives brings to a close one part of an ongoing investigation into the goings on at Capital Corporation during the 1990s. ‘While I disagree with the finding, I don’t think it’s worth the time and expense trying to fight it,’ Ives told Accountancy Age.
Sole practitioner Dineshkumar Shanabhai Patel, who traded as Ashley Ross & Co, was severely reprimanded by the tribunal. He was found to have forged and back-dated documents and having allowed his firm to be used in the ‘scam’. Patel was not available for comment.
The tribunal is just one aspect of a much wider investigation into Capital Corporation, and the role of Deloitte as its auditor. The investigation has now been completed and a decision is expected to be announced shortly.
A Deloitte statement said: ‘Ives retired from the firm in October 1996. The firm has been fully cooperating with the JDS and believes it has behaved perfectly properly.’