The B.C. Supreme Court has refused to require a former accountant to put up security to cover the costs of his appeals of earlier disciplinary hearings.

The former accountant, Noodin Madatali, is appealing disciplinary decisions rendered against him by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of B.C.

Madatali was admitted to membership as a CA in 1986. In 1997 he was the subject of a complaint that resulted in his agreement to a summary discipline procedure. That process resulted in a fine and an undertaking not to repeat the misconduct. Madatali paid the fine.

In 1998 he was again the subject of complaints and on this occasion, after discipline proceedings, was ordered to pay fines and costs of $21,000.

Shortly after this, the B.C. Court of Appeal delivered a decision that directed professional bodies on the issue of costs. In the result, the tribunal re-convened to assess its earlier determination and concluded that the original order of $21,000 should be sustained.

Madatali sought to appeal that determination to the Institute’s appeal body, but faced a bylaw that stipulated he must first pay any fines and costs awarded, so he paid a total of $23,470. Madatali resigned from the Institute back in 1998.

The Institute’s appeal committee dismissed his appeal in 2002, and it directed costs of $37,745. Madatali appealed both these decisions to the court.

The Institute applied to the court to order security for costs of this appeal, which it estimated at between $11,000 and $15,000. It also applied for security for the costs order of $37,745.

The B.C. Supreme Court dismissed the Institute’s application for security for costs of both the Discipline Committee’s award and the appeal.