Struck off director

The ICAEW has struck off an ex Luton Town and Spurs finance director after he was disqualified by the High Court from being a company director.

The case centred on three “areas of concern” that took place between July 2004 and February 2007 when Derek Peter of Priory Close, Totteridge, London, was finance chief at the Hatters.

The ICAEW disciplinary hearing heard that the High Court found that between 2004 and 2007 he contributed towards Luton Town breaching rules and regulations relating to payments to football agents.

He caused Luton Town to trade at the risk, and "ultimate detriment" to HMRC – which saw the taxman owed £3.5m by the time of his resignation in 2007. He also caused the club to enter a transaction that was to the detriment of creditors and to the benefit of a connected entity (of which he was also a director).

The FA found him guilty of misconduct. Luton Town entered administration in November 2007.

In its disciplinary orders and regulatory decisions, published on 5 December, the ICAEW said:

‘The tribunal noted that the sums owed to HMRC were considerable and there had been a failure to make payments over an extended period of time. As the finance director Mr Peters was clearly partially responsible for this.’

‘In addition, he had clearly flouted the FA rules despite being an experienced accountant working in this field. The tribunal considered that the Newmafruit matter indicated a deliberate intention on the defendant’s part to ignore the obvious conflict of interest. All these matters were aggravating factors.’

Peter telephoned the case manager and said that he felt that the judgment had overlooked all the defences he and his co-directors had put forward. He also indicated that he was not minded to enter into any further correspondence.

The tribunal recommended that any application for re-admission not be considered before 4 September 2018.