Press Release

Annual Report for 2001 of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement

Accompanying the release of his Office’s Annual Report for 2001, the Director of Corporate Enforcement, Mr Paul Appleby, made the following comments:

“Our first Annual Report is necessarily brief, because the Office only formally commenced activity on 28 November 2001. Prior to this date, a small group of my staff was engaged in preparing the ground for the Office’s formal launch. This work included the recruitment of staff, the selection of temporary Office premises and the commissioning of the Office’s website (www.odce.ie). These organisational arrangements dominate the 2001 Report.

Since the end of 2001 however, the Office has made further progress. We have:

-  issued four Consultation Papers on aspects of our remit;

-  evaluated a large number of submissions on these Consultation Papers;

-  communicated the compliance message to professional bodies and others;

-  assumed the legal powers to restrict and disqualify certain persons;

-  prosecuted successfully eight offences under the Companies Acts;

-  obtained close to our full complement of staff;

-  received over 60 complaints alleging corporate malpractice;

-  concluded over 40 cases on hands and

-  participated successfully in High Court proceedings relating to the Ansbacher Inquiry.

In addition, we will shortly assume legal responsibilities under the Companies Acts for winding up and insolvency which will be an important part of the Office’s future role. While our work in 2002 is focused on establishing a sound foundation for the longer term development of the Office, we expect to achieve concrete results in the company law compliance and enforcement area by the end of this year.”

29 May 2002

END/

Editor’s Note

An electronic copy of the ODCE’s Annual Report for 2001 is available on the Office’s website at http://www.odce.ie/publications. For further information (including a hard copy of the Report), please contact:

* Ms Jacqueline Byrne

Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement
Regus House

Harcourt Road

Dublin 2

( 01–477-3139

Lo-call: 1890-315-015

6 01–477-3330

@

ü http://www.odce.ie