At Southwark Crown Court this week, the Financial Conduct Authority offered no evidence against four directors of the health sector software company, iSOFT. This followed two lengthy trials at Southwark, the second of which collapsed spectacularly earlier this month when the judge ruled that the jury should be discharged.
Alistair Webster QC and Kevin Donnelly defended the former FD of the company, John Whelan. The allegation was that the directors had conspired to mislead the market by issuing false financial statements.
Commenting, Alistair says, ” This is a highly satisfying conclusion to a lengthy process which was pursued with vigour by the FCA. After 5 months, the first jury could not agree. The FCA counsel insisted that the case against the directors was very strong. Defending John involved dealing with multiple issues: revenue recognition; markets; banking; software; metadata. I had to cross examine no less than 11 accountants, which must be some sort of record! This was a huge investigation and it involved allegations going back to 2003. I am delighted for the client that he has had the weight of this finally lifted from him.
It should be said that we had fantastic support from the Pannone team.