Court rejects E&Y inquiry appeal.

Financial News, October, 2002

Ernst & Young (E&Y) suffered a setback Tuesday when the High Court threw out its appeal to delay a disciplinary investigation into the firm's auditing of Equitable Life, the beleaguered insurer.The accountancy firm is being sued by Equitable for pound sterling2.6bn ([euro]4.1bn) and asked the High Court to hold off the investigation by the accountancy profession's Joint Disciplinary Scheme (JDS) until that action was concluded.

Equitable alleges that Ernst & Young, which was subsequently fired as its auditor, should not have signed off its accounts as a result of the huge liabilities it faced. Equitable says it could have been sold for pound sterling2.9bn had E&Y acted properly.