Ignatius Forde fined €3,000 for false audit reports

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Ignatius Forde was fined €3,000 and ordered to complete 200 hours of community service by the Court of Appeal on 28 November 2014 for producing false audit reports and acting as an auditor when disqualified. The community service was ordered instead of a 12-month prison sentence. He was given six months to pay the fine, with a separate 12-month term of imprisonment in default of payment.

Mr. Justice Mahon delivered the court’s judgment. The sentence under review had been imposed at Carlow Circuit Court on 15 May 2014 and consisted of a €1,000 fine, with six months to pay.

Forde pleaded guilty at an early stage in the proceedings. The case involved 13 counts, with a further 37 counts in the indictment taken into consideration.

The court found that the original financial penalty, on its own, was unduly lenient given the gravity of the offences, previous relevant convictions and repeated offending. It also identified an error in the sentencing judge’s failure to identify the appropriate sentencing range and place the case within it.