Corporate enforcer Paul Appleby is investigating 20 cases of suspected breaches of the law by directors of Irish public limited companies. Barry O'Halloran reports.

Mr Appleby, who is the State's Director of Corporate Enforcement, revealed yesterday that his office has received 20 reports from the Irish Stock Exchange detailing instances of possible breaches of company law by directors of quoted entities.

He said yesterday that most of the cases involved directors who had not informed the exchange of dealings in shares that they held in their own companies within the time required by the law.

Directors of listed companies who buy or sell shares in the companies of which they are board members must inform the market of the transactions within three days.

Mr Appleby said that there appeared to be a problem with a significant minority of directors failing to comply with this provision.

"Certainly it seems to have been a problem," he said. "It is probably a relatively small problem but it does seem to be a problem."

He explained that in some cases it has emerged that the fault lay with third parties acting on behalf of the individuals involved, who failed to notify the directors of the timing of share transactions.

He added that since the exchange began reporting these lapses to his office, company directors have been much more prompt about notifying the markets of their share dealings.

Mr Appleby said that the reports from the stock exchange that did not deal with that particular issue, also covered areas related to share dealing. "We are giving some attention to the reports," he said.

The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the stock exchange.

This means that the market's authorities will report any suspected breaches of company law that they encounter to the ODCE.

Mr Appleby, who was launching his office's annual report for 2004 yesterday, said that the agreement between the two bodies had helped to improve compliance with company law amongst the State's 50 plcs.

"Our information is that the stock exchange is quite pleased with the improvement," he said yesterday.

He added that the exchange had informed its client companies of the memorandum of understanding and its intention to report to his office when appropriate.

The ODCE has also been keeping a watching brief on the Fyffes v DCC case in the High Court.

Fyffes is suing DCC and its chief executive, Jim Flavin, for insider dealing.

The case arises from the sale by DCC of a stake it held in Fyffes in February 2000, not long before Fyffes' share price collapsed. Mr Appleby said it would be normal for his office to keep a watching brief on a case like this.

"If there is anything which we consider merits our attention, then we will give it serious consideration," he said.