Former Independent News & Media (INM) chairman Leslie Buckley has hit out at the State’s corporate watchdog after it quietly closed the file on long inquiries into the governance scandal in the company.
The Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA), led by chief executive Ian Drennan, on Thursday ended 12 months of silence on a High Court report into INM, now Mediahuis Ireland, by saying it had resolved not to take enforcement action over the affair.
At issue was an unlawful breach of company data relating to 19 named individuals, among them journalists and former company officials. Some had come into conflict with the main INM shareholder at the time, Denis O’Brien. Mr Buckley was a close business associate of Mr O’Brien and represented his interests as chairman of INM.
Mr Buckley said there were “serious questions” over the investigation because the CEA’s predecessor – the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) – heard only one side of the story before seeking the High Court inspection.
RM Block
“It is regrettable that the director did not offer me the opportunity of a meeting or an interview prior to initiating the High Court inspection process,” Mr Buckley said in response to questions from The Irish Times about the CEA decision.
[ Leslie Buckley files court action against AllianzOpens in new window ]
“This is a highly questionable approach, to say the least, from an organisation that holds itself out as a custodian of good corporate practice.”
INM was the publisher of the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent, among other titles. The affair was highly damaging to its reputation, culminating in INM’s takeover by Mediahuis of Belgium in 2019.
INM blamed Mr Buckley for the affair and started court action against him but he always denied any wrongdoing.
His statement said the then ODCE never met him before seeking the inspection, but met with former INM chief executive Robert Pitt and former chief financial officer Ryan Preston.
Responding to questions about Mr Buckley’s statement, the CEA on Friday said: “The application to the High Court in this case followed a lengthy investigation and, despite being robustly resisted by the company, satisfied the High Court that the evidential threshold necessary to warrant the appointment of Court-appointed Inspectors had been fully met and the court’s jurisdiction engaged.”
Mr Buckley said: “I was not afforded an opportunity to meet with the ODCE in relation to that or any other matters, so the ODCE did not hear both sides of the story.”
He added: “Had the director done so, that may have given him pause for thought. The ODCE may well have received advice not to proceed with a High Court-appointed inspection process and in doing so, saved the taxpayer in excess of €5.6 million and €40 million overall in legal costs.”
Senior counsel Seán Gillane and UK solicitor Richard Fleck were appointed in 2018 by then High Court president, Mr Justice Peter Kelly, to investigate INM after confidential disclosures from Mr Pitt and Mr Preston.
The court was told INM backup computer tapes went to third parties for “data interrogation” relating to 19 people.
Among them were journalists Sam Smyth, Brendan O’Connor and Maeve Sheehan, and former INM chief executive Vincent Crowley.
The 19 also included two Moriarty Tribunal barristers during its investigation into the award to Mr O’Brien of the State’s second mobile phone licence 30 years ago.
The inspectors made their final report last July, saying “technical breaches of the Data Protection Acts by INM were established” and that inside information was disclosed to Mr O’Brien by Mr Buckley. However, they found such matters did not amount to the affairs of INM being conducted in breach of the Companies Acts.
They said it would not be appropriate to “speculate” on how the interrogation of data came to include the 19 names.
Mr Drennan’s office published the report on July 31st, 2024. But in the months since then it repeatedly declined to say what action, if any, would be taken on foot of the conclusions.
The CEA finally set out its stance on Thursday in its 2024 annual report: “Having considered the matter with great care and deliberation, the CEA ultimately determined that enforcement action will not be taken arising from the report.”
There was no comment from Mediahuis Ireland. Mr O’Brien’s spokesman also declined to comment.
