Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicles Act 2015

Duty of auditor in relation to suspected commission of indictable offence

122. (1) Where, in the course of, and by virtue of, carrying out an audit of the accounts of an ICAV, information comes into the possession of the auditor that leads the auditor to form the opinion that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the ICAV, or an officer or agent of it, has committed an indictable offence under this Act, the auditors shall, without delay after having formed such opinion, notify that opinion to the relevant enforcement agency and provide that enforcement agency with details of the grounds on which they have formed that opinion.

(2) Where the auditor of an ICAV notifies the relevant enforcement agency of any matter pursuant to subsection (1), the auditor shall, in addition to performing the obligations under that subsection, if requested by that enforcement agency—

(a) furnish that enforcement agency with such further information in the auditor’s possession or control relating to the matter as that enforcement agency may require, including further information relating to the details of the grounds on which the auditor formed the opinion referred to in that subsection,

(b) give that enforcement agency such access to any documents in the auditor’s possession or control relating to the matter as that enforcement agency may require, and

(c) give that enforcement agency such access to facilities for the taking of copies of, or extracts from, those books and documents as that enforcement agency may require.

(3) Nothing in this section compels the disclosure by any person of any information that the person would be entitled to refuse to produce on the grounds of legal professional privilege or authorises the inspection or copying of any document containing such information that is in the person’s possession.

(4) No professional or legal duty to which an auditor is subject by virtue of appointment as an auditor of an ICAV shall be regarded as contravened by, and no liability to the ICAV, its shareholders, creditors or other interested parties shall attach to, an auditor by reason of compliance with an obligation imposed by or under this section.

(5) The Bank and the Director of Corporate Enforcement are enforcement agencies for the purposes of this section; and in this section “relevant enforcement agency” means—

(a) for the offences specified in subsection (1) of section 176 , the Bank;

(b) for the offences specified in subsection (2) of that section, the Director of Corporate Enforcement;

(c) for the offences specified in subsection (3) of that section, both the Bank and the Director of Corporate Enforcement.

(6) If an auditor fails to comply with this section the auditor commits a category 1 offence.