Accountancy firm paid fees of £1.4m for NIB inquiry

The accountancy firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), has been paid more than £1.4 million in fees for work on the High Court inspectors' inquiries into National Irish Bank and its subsidiary, NIB Financial Services Ltd (NIBFSL).

The inspectors, appointed to NIB by the High Court in March 1998 and NIBFSL in June 1998, are Mr Justice John Blayney and Mr Tom Grace, a partner with PWC. They are working from PWC offices in Dublin.

Total payments from inception until end February 2000 towards the cost of the inquiry were £1.78 million. Up to end December 1999 PWC was paid £1.39 million, according to a Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment letter released following a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

It is understood Mr Grace's fees are included in the PWC total. Mr Grace is being paid £210 an hour, excluding VAT, or £1,680 for an eight-hour day.

William Fry, the legal firm giving advice to the inspectors, was paid £204,000 up to the same date, according to the letter, which is to the Department of Finance.

"It should be noted that while the above costs are borne by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Attorney General has advised that, upon completion of the report, we will be in a position to seek to recover the full costs of this inquiry. However, until the final report it is impossible to estimate what proportion the High Court might order NIB/NIBFSL to pay."

Sanction for total expenditure of up to £2.7 million was given by the Minister for Finance in relation to the inquiry in April, according to another document.

Matheson Ormsby Prentice, solicitors for NIB and NIBFSL in a High Court case taken in relation to the inquiry, were paid £72,849 for their costs in relation to the matter. The court found in favour of the inspectors but granted costs against the State as the matter was one of public interest. The court directed that bank officials should answer questions put to them by the inspectors.

The PWC staff working for the inquiry are being paid at the insolvency fee rates charged by that company and which are subject to annual review. The actual rates being paid were deleted from the documents released, on the basis that the information was commercially sensitive.

The Department of Finance has expressed concern to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment about the costs being incurred as a result of the inspectors' employing the PWC staff, but accepts that the department itself has no qualified civil servants to spare given all the other inquiries currently underway.

Mr Justice Blayney is being paid at the equivalent of the rate paid to a Supreme Court judge. The inquiry has been delayed by court actions taken by NIB and some of its officials, and it is not known when it is due for completion.