Comet administrators face record £1m fine

Deloitte and two of the partners that oversaw Comet’s insolvency have agreed to pay the fine, Sky News reported.

They will also be formally reprimanded by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), though the two people in question – thought to be Neville Kahn and Christopher Farrington – will not be banned.

Hundreds of Deloitte partners were told about the likely fine last night, a source at a rival told Sky.

Deloitte is understood to have agreed to pay the ICAEW’s costs of nearly £1m as well as the fine.

The fine comes more than five years after the issue was referred to the ICAEW by Sir Vince Cable, who was business secretary at the time.

Comet hit the buffers in late 2012, following a period of ownership by two private equity investors.

The ICAEW is thought to have concluded that Deloitte did not do enough to ensure its previous work advising Comet’s owners did not create a conflict of interest given its wider duties as administrator.

However, it is thought that that the outcome, including distributions to creditors, would not have been different if the processes had been perfect.