FAI now under investigation over ‘second set of accounts’
THE FAI is to be investigated for allegedly having a second set of accounts which its auditors were unaware of, sources have told the Irish Mail on Sunday.
Auditing firm Deloitte this week reported the FAI for not keeping proper accounts – and the allegations about the duplicate books form the basis for its complaint to the Company Records Office.
Separately, a €60,000 payment – listed in the FAI annual accounts as professional fees in 2014 – is being investigated to check if it was a payment for services provided, or an alleged pay-off to settle a private dispute between an employee of the football authority and a person who once worked at the FAI.
These revelations come as the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement continues its probe into the circumstances surrounding a €100,000 loan given by former FAI chief executive John Delaney two years ago to his employers, as well as a series of other cash transactions.
The State regulator charged with overseeing how firms comply with legislation is expected to refer any non-company law breaches it uncovers at the FAI to the Garda fraud squad.
A source revealed: ‘Deloitte reported the FAI to the CRO [Companies Registration Office] because they believe there was a second set of accounts that they were not shown.
‘Deloitte made what is known as a H4 complaint to the CRO and they believe there were transactions and accounts in the FAI that were not brought to their attention.
‘There is also a €60,000 payment that is listed in the FAI accounts as professional fees. The FAI board thought that this was for professional fees but they only found out recently that this was a settlement between someone who works at the FAI and a person who once worked at the FAI.
‘The two people involved were close at one stage and as far as the FAI board was concerned they had settled their differences privately.
‘But now it seems that instead of settling the matter privately the money for the payment came out of FAI monies. There are also questions being raised about whether a series of cash transactions were for FAI business and whether these were disclosed to the Revenue Commissioners.’
Another source explained: ‘The €60,000 payment is listed in the FAI accounts but no one knew what this was for. They only know now and this is now being investigated. It’s become horrendous, 60-70% of the people working in the FAI would not be paid as much as this five-figure sum. This is really hard for ordinary people in the FAI.’
Deloitte lodged a complaint on April 12 against the soccer body claiming the association had not kept proper accounts. In its complaint the accountancy firm accused the FAI of breaching two sections of the Companies Act 2014 – specifically Section 281 and Section 282 – which deal with how financial transactions should be recorded.
Under this legislation proper and adequate record keeping is defined as those which ‘correctly record and explain the transactions of the company’ and which reflect ‘the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the company to be determined with reasonable accuracy’.
Furthermore, the legislation states that ‘adequate precautions shall be taken for guarding against falsification and facilitating discovery of such falsification’.
Companies and directors found guilty of breaching these regulations face fines of up to €50,000 or a five-year term in prison.
Last night, after the MoS raised questions about: whether or not the FAI’s auditors had been given access to a second set of accounts; why a €60,000 pay-off to settle a private dispute was listed in its annual accounts as professional fees, and whether a series of mystery cash transactions were disclosed to the Revenue Commissioners and were used for official FAI business, the FAI issued the following statement: ‘An independent investigation by the association into issues of concern to the board is continuing and further comment is not possible at this time.’
‘No one knew what payment was for’
‘Two people involved were once close’