黑洞社区

The four fired directors at the centre of a row that has shaken the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) have hit back at the organisation鈥檚 claims they asked for their dismissal to be kept under wraps.

Amarjit Atkar, Bruce McAra, Simon Hardwick and Steve Williams had their contracts terminated in November 2019 after they raised concerns about the handling of a report into RICS鈥檚 treasury management processes.

The report, undertaken between late 2018 and early 2019 by accountant BDO at RICS鈥檚 request, had warned the 152-year-old organisation that its treasury management processes were at risk of 鈥渦nidentified fraud, misappropriation of funds and misreporting of financial performance鈥�.

Amid mounting pressure to explain why the four non-executives had been ousted, RICS told 黑洞社区 that the directors had asked that their departures be kept confidential.

But, in a statement to 黑洞社区, the directors refuted RICS鈥檚 version of events and said they had evidence to support their claim that they had, in fact, asked for their dismissal to be made public 鈥� a request which they say RICS and its then president Chris Brooke (pictured, left), now the chairman of the RICS governing council, rejected.

In their statement, the non-executives said that on 22 November 2019, one day after their appointments had been 鈥渦nexpectedly terminated鈥�, they had 鈥渟uggested that a joint statement be issued to enable all involved to make clear what had happened and why鈥�.

The directors added: 鈥淲e explained that we foresaw 鈥榣ikely media interest in the sudden departure from [the] management board of a majority of its non-executive directors鈥�.

鈥淭his was in anticipation of any enquiry and also to abide by the confidentiality terms within our appointments, of which we were reminded in our termination letters.

鈥淚n response to our suggestion, Mr Brooke wrote to us on 22 November to say that RICS considered this to be a private matter and did not intend to make a public statement.鈥�

The dismissal of the directors prompted four former presidents, including Christopher Jonas and Amanda Clack, to write to the body鈥檚 current president Kathleen Fontana earlier this month calling for an independent inquiry and demanding answers as to why the four 鈥渉ighly credible individuals鈥� were ousted.

RICS has previously said the reason for their dismissal could not be disclosed because of contractual issues.

The latest revelation follows an announcement last week by the organisation鈥檚 governing council that an independent inquiry into the furore, which it had previously said was not needed, would now go ahead, with the results made public.

The governing council said it had 鈥渓istened to the views of members in recent weeks鈥� and recognised that members wanted 鈥渇urther reassurance鈥� on the matter. It added that it would undertake a 鈥渃omprehensive鈥� review into the 鈥渙ngoing purpose and relevance of RICS in 2021 and beyond鈥�.

RICS declined to comment further.