The State's corporate enforcer, Paul Appleby, will go to the High Court today seeking the disqualification of a former National Irish Bank (NIB) executive from acting as a director or senior manager over his involvement in the tax evasion scandal in the bank in the 1990s, writes Arthur Beesley, Senior Business Correspondent.
The action against Nigel D'Arcy is the first of nine cases linked to the tax evasion and overcharging scandals at NIB.
The other eight cases, including actions against former chief executives Jim Lacey and Barry Seymour, will come before Mr Justice Peter Kelly on Monday.
Mr Appleby indicated in July that Mr D'Arcy, a former head of financial advice and services in NIB, is consenting to disqualification. Records filed last month in the Companies Office show he has resigned from the boards of two firms, First Arch Holdings and Claesz Enterprises.
While the nine actions are the first disqualification cases arising from any of the court inquiries and tribunals that have examined business practices in recent years, it is not yet known whether Mr Appleby will take similar action against the 10 other individuals against whom adverse findings were made by the High Court inspectors who investigated NIB.
Prominent among those was the Independent TD, Beverley Flynn, expelled last year from Fianna Fáil, who was found to have facilitated tax evasion by selling offshore life assurance products as a secure investment for "hot" money.
Mr Lacey, who is friendly with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, was once one of the most prominent bankers in the State.
A former chairman of the Irish Aviation Authority, he was found to have breached his duties by failing to ensure that the bank complied with its legal requirements. Mr Lacey is a director of Forexconcept Fund.
A filing last Monday to the Companies Office shows he resigned from the board of another company, Citco Fund Services, with effect from September 2004.
Another filing on August 8th said he resigned as a director of Vega Invest Fund with effect from last March. However, a record lodged on August 24th said this filing was made "in error".
Two other former NIB directors whose cases come up next week remain on the boards of companies. Former general manager of banking Michael Keane holds six directorships and former head of finance Patrick Byrne holds one directorship.
Mr Appleby also wants to disqualify former general manager of retail banking Frank Brennan, former head of retail Dermott Bonder, former head of retail banking Kevin Curran and former regional manager Tom McMenamin.