Sean FitzPatrick acquitted of misleading auditors charges

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

Sean FitzPatrick was acquitted on all charges after his trial collapsed earlier that week. Judge John Aylmer directed the acquittal after 127 days and heavily criticised the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) investigation. The proceedings were reported on 25 May 2017.

FitzPatrick had pleaded not guilty to 27 offences under the Companies Act 1990. They comprised 22 charges of making a misleading, false or deceptive statement to auditors and five charges of furnishing false information between 2002 and 2007. Earlier in May, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) withdrew nine charges after conceding there was insufficient evidence for them.

At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 25 May, Dominic McGinn SC told Judge Aylmer that the ODCE wanted access to the trial transcripts and that the DPP had a copy and could liaise with the ODCE. Judge Aylmer said the transcripts were a public record of a trial held in open court and that, if permission were needed, the court had no issue with the ODCE obtaining them.

On 24 May, the ODCE said it would prepare a report into the trial’s collapse as a matter of the highest priority and seek the transcripts for that purpose.