The Court of Appeal has increased the sentence imposed on Ignatius Forde for offences involving false audit reports and acting as an auditor while disqualified, after finding that a €1,000 fine did not adequately reflect the seriousness of the offending.
Forde had provided accountancy services in his local area for about 30 years. The court recorded that, while not a qualified auditor, he dishonestly used the names and false signatures of two qualified auditors and an accountant without their knowledge. He also used an invented name as that of a purported qualified auditor and falsely represented himself as qualified.
The affected businesses had to arrange for their accounts to be re-audited and resubmitted to the Companies Office. The professionals whose names and signatures were used were also concerned about damage to their reputations.
Forde pleaded guilty at an early stage and made admissions when interviewed by Gardaí. However, he had several previous convictions, including offences connected with unlawfully acting as an auditor, misappropriating clients' funds and Revenue matters. A similar conviction in December 2007 had resulted in a €2,500 fine.
Three of the offences before the Circuit Court were also committed while Forde was subject to a previously imposed six-year suspended sentence. The trial judge did not activate that sentence and instead imposed a €1,000 fine, with the remaining counts taken into consideration.
The Court of Appeal held that the financial penalty alone was unduly lenient. It identified two errors in principle: insufficient weight was given to the repeated offending, and the sentencing judge had failed to identify an appropriate sentencing range before locating the case within it.
The court said that range should have included possible sentences of up to three years and that imprisonment was arguably warranted.
It ordered Forde to perform 200 hours of community service in lieu of a 12-month prison sentence and increased the fine to €3,000, payable within six months, with 12 months' imprisonment in default.