.png)
.png)
ICAEW member made threats over 18-month period
A chartered accountant threatened HMRC staff members with violence and suggested inspectors could be killed, an ICAEW panel has ruled.
Run Chai Pan appealed against a finding by the professional body’s disciplinary committee that he had intimidated Revenue officials over an 18-month period.
He was repeatedly aggressive during telephone calls, telling a woman tax officer that he intended “hammering” one of her colleagues at a future meeting and would give her “a good punching”.
Another department worker was warned he would’ve been killed had he entered Pan’s premises, with the accountant adding that his client would be within his rights to kill the tax official. Inspectors were told they would be stabbed to death if they visited Pan’s Chinese takeaway clients after 9pm.
He defended himself to an ICAEW appeals panel by claiming the tax officers were lying about the threats. He added that had been unwell during the original disciplinary hearing, and that the complaints were out of time, the sentence too harsh and the costs order too high.
The panel rejected Pan’s arguments and upheld the severe reprimand of the disciplinary committee, ordering him to pay costs of £38,637. His fine was reduced from £7,500 to £5,000, but he was told he was lucky to have escaped being excluded from the ICAEW.
The professional body dismissed as “fanciful” the accountant’s suggestion that the witnesses from HMRC had “engaged in a conspiracy to defame” him because of his success rate in challenging tax assessments or because they were prejudiced against Chinese people.
A Revenue spokesperson reacted to the ruling by saying, “We are committed to treating those we serve with consideration and respect. Similarly, our people are entitled to go about their duties free from the threat of physical assault or verbal intimidation so we very much welcome the clear message the ICAEW has sent about the importance of professional behaviour.”
