Company directors were forced to repay a total of €160 million they had borrowed from their companies last year, according to the annual report of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE). Ciarán Brennanreports.
A total of 86 large cases involving €48 million were referred to the Revenue because of possible tax liability concerns.
The report also showed that 28 companies, directors and others were convicted on 48 charges of breaching various requirements of the Companies Acts.
Fourteen people were disqualified as company directors during the year, while a further two were restricted. This compared with 21 disqualifications and no restrictions in 2005.
Other significant results highlighted by the ODCE in its report included the hearing by the High Court of a second application for disqualification as a consequence of the findings in the inspectors' report into National Irish Bank and the commencement, following a lengthy ODCE inquiry, of disqualification proceedings against two company directors who were criticised by the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments.
During 2006, the ODCE said it also continued its targeting of dissolved insolvent companies.
Disqualification actions were launched against a further nine individuals in this area, while the High Court restricted 100 directors of insolvent companies.
Dissolved insolvent companies which have caused financial loss to other company stakeholders and where the directors are known to have failed to meet their company law obligations have been earmarked for attention for enforcement this year, Paul Appleby, the Director of Corporate Enforcement, said.
Mr Appleby said that his office would also crack down on people acting as officers of companies while not permitted to do so and on people who falsify or fail to maintain documentation which properly reflects the company's business. He also said that property management companies were an area of concern and the ODCE's publication in late 2006 of a consultation paper and draft guidance on apartment owners' management companies has struck a chord with the public.
The office has received more than 60 submissions in response to its consultation paper and has dealt with 33 formal complaints to the end of May, compared with 26 for the whole of 2006.
