DETI's deadline for PMS directors looms
THE Department of Enterprise must make a decision on whether to challenge Presbyterian Mutual Society (PMS) directors in court in just over two months, it has been confirmed.
The troubled 300m society, which has 9,500 members, suffered a run and went into administration on November 17, 2008. The statutory limit of two years for the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment (DETI) to decide to take action against its directors expires on November 17, 2010.
A DETI spokesman said yesterday that its investigation into the conduct of the PMS directors "is continuing".
"Any application to the court must be made not later than 17 November 2010," he said. "Therefore the investigation will not extend beyond that date."
He also confirmed that DETI's Director's Disqualification Unit has been quizzing the PMS directors about their activities.
"As part of the investigation, DDU has written to the directors inviting them to comment on aspects of the company's affairs," he said.
The information came to light after PMS saver David Thompson from Donaghadee forwarded correspondence between enterprise minister Arlene Foster and MP Lady Sylvia Hermon on the issue to the News Letter.
Lady Sylvia asked Ms Foster if the report from PMS administrator Arthur Boyd to DETI about PMS directors will be published – or for an explanation for non-publication.
She also pressed to know when the minister would make a decision on whether disqualification would be pursued.
The minister responded that the administrator has a legal responsibility to report to the department but that it was "the department's general policy" not to release such information because it would likely prejudice its investigation. She added that if it appears to the department to be "expedient in the public interest" to disqualify anyone, an application for such an order may be made to the High Court.
PMS saver Mr Thompson said: "I am aware that there is an important meeting of the PMS ministerial working group very soon and the most important issue that needs to be resolved is repaying our money. But after that there must be an inquiry into how this all happened."
In February the Treasury Select Committee concluded that PMS savers were "innocent victims" of "a fatal regulatory gap". The committee's 16th recommendation suggested the possibility of a bank takeover with government support. It is not clear what support, if any, is currently being offered by government to potential buyers.
However a solution to the crisis may be unlikely unless it is found before the government's October spending review.
* The Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board is also investigating the PMS auditors and two PMS directors who were also accountants.
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