'Carillion directors to face FCA action for misleading investors UK regulator plans to publicly cens13 Nov 2020 19:10
If anybody is still hanging around and interested or pops back ever?:P
From the ft
'The UK’s financial regulator has said it is planning to take action against former directors of Carillion, almost three years after the government contractor collapsed under £7bn of liabilities, leaving taxpayers to pick up the pieces.
On Friday, the Financial Conduct Authority announced that it had issued warning notices to the company itself and to “certain previous executive directors” over a series of breaches of financial rules before the business failed.
These include giving “false or misleading signals as to the value of its shares”, “failing to take reasonable care to ensure that its announcements were not misleading, false or deceptive”, and “failing to take reasonable steps to establish and maintain adequate procedures, systems and controls”.
Despite these findings, the FCA only gave details of a proposed “public censure” of the company*, instead of “a financial penalty”. It did not comment on possible sanctions against the directors, or name them, because the case is ongoing. It also stressed that warning notices are not final decisions and individuals may appeal against any decisions to its upper tribunal.
During their tenure, the company ran up debts and sold assets so that it could continue paying dividends to shareholders. It paid performance-related bonuses to executives just months before its collapse.
Campaigners criticised the lack of any detail on possible sanctions against individuals.
However, Nick Bayley, a former FCA regulator who is now head of UK regulatory consulting at Duff & Phelps, said any subsequent enforcement action against directors would have an impact.
“The headline market abuse offence, of being knowingly concerned in recklessly misleading the market, is one that — if proven — will have serious reputational and financial consequences for the individuals involved,” he noted.
Tom Sasse, of the Institute for Government, said it showed that “checks and balances on companies like Carillion remain much too weak and too slow”.
He added: “The government promised reform but we are yet to see it follow through, including with the primary legislation needed to strengthen audit.”'