A whistleblower sued EY for $10.8 million.

The year 2020 may well go down as 'The Year of the Whistleblower'.

The first of the two stand-out cases being that of Dr. Li Webliang, the Wuhan doctor who first issued contact warnings of the Coronavirus. This information could be worth $6 trillion, the calculated price on the global economy according to Bloomberg Economics. The other being auditor Amjad Rihan successfully suing EY for $10.8 million in damages.

A recent judgment, issued on 17th April by the British High Court, against the accounting firm EY, has bolstered criticism that some firms have acted as enablers for financial misconduct. EY was found liable for covering up evidence of money laundering and forcing out a whistleblower.

The case was brought by Amjad Rihan, a former EY partner in Dubai, who exposed evidence of money laundering by gold refiner Kaloti Jewellery International. In 2013, Mr Rihan led an audit that discovered Dubai's biggest gold refiner Kaloti had paid out a total of $5.2 billion in cash in 2012. He argued that it was evidence of money laundering but EY failed to report the activity to the authorities. EY then helped to cover up a crime: the export to Kaloti in Dubai, of gold bars that had been disguised as silver to avoid export limits on gold.

A 2019 BBC Panorama documentary revealed the smuggled gold Mr Rihan uncovered at Kaloti was owned by a criminal gang that laundered money for British drug dealers. The gang had collected cash from drug dealers in the UK and other European countries; they then laundered the dirty money by buying and selling black market gold.

According to Inequality.org, Rihan was removed from an audit on the quality and propriety of Kaloti's business practices when he sought to report the evidence to authorities. This has brought new questions to the accounting and auditing space on the role that whistleblowing has within the sector and how the industry reflects on this landmark case.

According to data obtained by investigations firm Kroll, under the Freedom of Information Act, the total number of whistleblowing tip-offs to the Financial Conduct Authority in 2019 was up 3.5% on the previous year, to reach the highest level recorded since 2015. The biggest increase was in reports about breaches of standards of professional behaviour, which rose by 35%. Whistleblowers were also more prepared to disclose their identity, with only a quarter wishing to remain anonymous; the lowest proportion since 2014.

The EY case has brought up a number of topics that the professional service industry must reflect upon. First and foremost, this is a reminder to all that whistleblowing is a crucial aspect of the sector and all firms must have stringent whistleblowing policies that are in place; accessible to all staff and abided by every echelon of the business. The protection offered to whistleblowers is key and must never be in any doubt.

Despite this, the facts and circumstances in whistleblowing cases are often complex and ambiguous by their very nature and so there must be proper processes to report cases, utilising independent and trusted consultations.

The fact that Mr Justice Kerr openly criticised EY's integrity and ethics in this case, supports the case for unambiguity and honesty within the sector and should be a serious warning to all that strong whistleblowing policies are not only a requirement but set a precedent for open and transparent business.

Chris Biggs is managing director of Theta Financial Reporting