Regulatory accountancy authorities in Britain have handed down a record fine on Coopers & Lybrand, the accountancy firm to Robert Maxwell, for failing to keep adequate checks on the late media magnate's publishing empire, it was announced today.
The firm and four of its senior employees working with Mr Maxwell's companies were ordered to pay fines and costs totalling nearly £3.5 million sterling (€5.1 million).
The fine, detailed in a long-awaited report from the Accountants Joint Disciplinary Scheme, was accompanied by a number of severe criticisms of the firm.
Coopers & Lybrand - now merged with a rival firm to form PricewaterhouseCoopers - and the individuals concerned admitted to all 59 charges.
Coopers & Lybrand acted as auditors of nearly all the Maxwell-controlled companies including Mirror Group Newspapers and their pension funds from 1972 onwards. The empire collapsed in 1991 leaving a £400 million sterling black hole in its pension funds.
The accountant, which has paid the fine and costs, admitted a host of charges of breaking regulatory rules. The four partners who were rapped by the regulator all still work as partners at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
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