R v Institute of Chartered Accountants and Others, ex parte Brindle and Others
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 21 December 1994 |
| Date | 21 December 1994 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Justice Nolan, Lord Justice Hirst and Sir Roger Parker
Judicial review - Institute of Chartered Accountants - disciplinary enquiry prejudicial to action
It would be prejudicial and unfair for a disciplinary enquiry set up by the Institute of Chartered Accountants into the conduct of Price Waterhouse as auditors of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International to go ahead until after the conclusion at first instance of an action brought against them by the bank's liquidator.
The Court of Appeal so held allowing an appeal by Mr Ian Brindle and other partners in Price Waterhouse against the refusal of the Queen's Bench Divisional Court (Lord Justice Mann and Mr Justice Sedley) on July 27, 1993 to grant judicial review of decisions by the Institute of Chartered Accountants to refer to its joint disciplinary tribunal the conduct of Price Waterhouse in and about its services to BCCI.
Mr David Oliver, QC and Mr Nigel Giffin for Price Waterhouse; Mr Robert Carnwath, QC and Mr John Howell, QC, for the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
LORD JUSTICE NOLAN said that from June 1987 the appellants had coordinated audits for BCCI, whose collapse on June 5, 1991 had led to civil proceedings against them by the liquidators and by a number of BCCI creditors. It had also led indirectly to the disciplinary proceedings, consisting in the establishment of an enquiry committee headed by Sir John Bailey, a former Treasury Solicitor.
The applicants requested suspension of the enquiry until the first stage of the English civil proceedings had been completed.
They also challenged the ICA's refusal to conduct the enquiry under new disciplinary provisions which came into existence in January 1993, which were of an adversarial character, the present enquiry being inquisitorial. His Lordship also listed other actions facing Price Waterhouse in the English and American courts.
It was common ground that the decision was to be judged by reference to whether or not it produced a real risk of prejudice or injustice. Mr Oliver had submitted that there was a grave risk of serious injustice if proceedings went ahead immediately.
He developed his submission under heads of confidentiality, disclosure of documents, prejudice to the trial process, the generation of documents...
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