Bermudian accountant Antoinette Francis Bolden has been fined by the Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario as a result of a conviction in Bermuda’s courts.

Mrs Bolden and her husband David, were convicted in 2011 of misleading the Bermuda Monetary Authority over the financial position of their company, the Emerald Financial Group.

The jury cleared the couple of 18 theft and money laundering charges relating to allegations they stole from Emerald Capital International, an exempt company, but found they had made false statements in response to BMA inquiries about Emerald’s liquidity and capitalisation.

They appealed the verdict, but the jury’s ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeals. The pair were sentenced to 200 hours of community service, which they have reportedly completed.

CPA Ontario’s Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) subsequently alleged that Mrs Bolden had breached the organisation’s Rules of Professional Conduct by failing to act in a manner which maintains the good reputation of the profession. Mrs Bolden denied the allegation, pleading her case during hearings on September 23 and 24 last year.

Paul Farley, representing the PCC, said the Bermuda courts had heard the Boldens had assured the BMA that Emerald Capital International Limited had a credit balance of more than $774,000, and that they had access to $500,000 of those funds to resolve the liquidity problem of the Emerald Financial Group.

However the Boldens were actually minority shareholders in the company and did not have access to the raised funds at the time.

Instead they were relying on payments to be made to the company in the future to resolve the shortfall.

Douglas Stewart, representing Mrs Bolden, argued that Mrs Bolden had believed the money to be unencumbered and available when she made her comments to the BMA, and therefore her actions did not rise to the level of professional misconduct.

The minutes of the Disciplinary Committee meeting stated: “Mrs Bolden was responsible for the oversight of business regulated by the BMA and, in the course of the BMA asserting its regulatory authority, she provided them with assertions that were false and misleading.

“The defence provided background as to the circumstances leading up to the false and misleading representations, including a breakdown of internal controls over the reporting activities that Mrs Bolden was responsible for, and circumstances that they believed justified her actions because other matters were a higher priority for her.

“In the opinion of the tribunal, none of these arguments explained or justified Mrs Bolden’s conduct.

“Mrs Bolden was responsible for the oversight of the financial reporting of the businesses and so to try to justify the false assertions because of the lack of accurate financial information does not provide a reason that distinguishes the conduct leading to the criminal conviction from misconduct as alleged by the PCC.”

The tribunal ruled that Mrs Bolden had failed to maintain the good reputation of her profession and its ability to serve the public interest, and was therefore guilty of misconduct.

Mr Farley said Mrs Bolden had no previous convictions and had been of previous good character, but noted that neither Chief Justice Richard Ground nor the tribunal had seen any expressions of remorse from Mrs Bolden.

The tribunal ordered that Bolden be reprimanded in writing and pay $5,000 within 12 months, noting that she would be unable to apply to be a member of CPA Ontario for a year.

They further ordered that notice of the ruling would be sent to all members of CPA Ontario, all provincial institutions, and that notices be published both on the CPA Ontario website and in The Royal Gazette at Bolden’s expense.

That notice was published in this newspaper in November.

“This is a case that requires severe sanctions because the matter is one of moral turpitude,” the document stated. “It is important that the principle of general deterrence, serving the public interest, be our guide.

“It is clear that the community in Bermuda was aware of the trial and conviction, that Mrs Bolden was a CA and consequently her reputation and that of all CAs has been impacted.”