Watchdog Launches Tribunal Against Ex-Langbar Chief

ACCOUNTANCY'S WATCHDOG has filed a formal complaint against jailed accountant and former Langbar chief Stuart Pearson.

Pearson, an ICAEW member and former Baker Tilly partner, was found guilty earlier this year of three counts of making misleading statements by falsely claiming that former AIM-listed business Langbar had assets held in a Brazilian bank.

The AADB's executive counsel, which began its investigation into Pearson's conduct in 2006, has filed a formal disciplinary complaint.

A sub-board of the Financial Reporting Council, it alleges that Pearson "failed to act with due skill, care and diligence, that he made certain announcements being reckless as to the truth/falsity of the announcements and that he recklessly misled the investing public as to the true financial position of the company".

The court sentenced 64 year-old Pearson to 12 months imprisonment and disqualified from acting as a director of a company for five years.

Langbar collapsed in 2005 after it emerged that hundreds of millions of dollars in assets held in a Brazilian bank did not exist.