EAMONN Rice, who once led the 100-strong financial services practice at Ernst & Young Scotland and Northern Ireland, has been struck off by the Irish accountancy institute for "fraudulently preparing a letter" for his lenders.
The ousting follows a decision last year by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (Icas) to expel Rice after finding him guilty of the act. He produced the letter in an attempt to prevent the Bank of Scotland from repossessing his home in Edinburgh, in the midst of the collapse of his Edinburgh-based online mortgages company, Mform, in February 2009. He went on to lose the house, but no criminal charges were ever brought against him.
Speaking last year, Peter Anderson, chairman of the Icas disciplinary tribunal, described Rice's behaviour as "seriously reprehensible".
The expulsion of Rice from Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI) was a formality following the Icas ruling. The final decision was made at a disciplinary tribunal of CAI's Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board on May 9, and announced last month.
The board also reprimanded Rice because he was personally sequestrated in Scotland, and ordered him to pay €5529 (£4318) towards its costs.
Rice told the Sunday Herald: "That was an inevitable result of the Scottish institute's disciplinary finding."
He added: "The only question they consider is: was there an adverse disciplinary finding by another institute? And the answer was yes. There was no room for argument."
In 2006, a number of Scottish financial luminaries – including Scottish Widows chief executive Mike Ross, former Scottish Widows Investment Partnership chief executive Bill Main, and the asset management group Artemis – pumped £12m into Mform.
However, the business collapsed in 2009 after the UK housing market slumped. Rice said: "It was a business dependent on a high volume of mortgage transactions, and mortgage transactions fell through the floor. I had personally invested quite a bit of my own personal wealth in the business."
Rice, who originally qualified as an accountant in 1985 and headed E&Y Scotland between 2002 and 2005, has now branched out as an independent consultant, founding Eamonn Rice Consulting in March 2011. He said: "I am continuing to develop that, and am working with a range of companies around the world. I'm trying to move on. I'm busy trying to rebuild my career and looking wherever I can for interesting consulting opportunities"
Rice briefly worked as "special projects" manager at Edinburgh-based Tesco Bank in the wake of Mform's administration. Before he joined Ernst & Young, he was a financial services partner with rival firms PwC and Arthur Andersen.
A source familiar with the situation said: "Eamonn has paid a very high price for a moment of stupidity. I have seen a fair number people who, when under a great deal of pressure, have done things they would never do in a rational moment."
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