Lai See | Business as usual for shamed tax expert Deborah Annells

Tax expert Deborah Annells, the founder and managing director of AzureTax, of which we wrote yesterday, appears to be unfazed by the drubbing she received at the hands of the disciplinary tribunal of Britain's Chartered Institute of Taxation, which found she had acted dishonestly in several instances.

In one case, according to the tribunal, she had dishonestly used funds entrusted to Azure Trustees to make payments of HK$5.2 million that were not in the interests of the trust's beneficiaries, although ultimately no trust money was lost. She has denied any dishonesty.

Yesterday, it was business as usual. She sent out an e-mail urging people to attend a seminar at her company offices on "US tax issues for expats". In the e-mail, she describes herself as having been at the "forefront of Hong Kong's taxation profession for over 18 years". She adds that she formed her company, AzureTax, "to provide transparent, strategic and ethical tax advisory services for individuals and businesses".

The disciplinary tribunal noted that Annells had "committed six separate breaches of the fundamental principle of integrity as set out in the Professional Rules and Practice Guidelines of the Chartered Institute of Taxation", of which she was a fellow, until recently expelled.

This is not the first time her professional conduct has been criticised. In High Court proceedings several years ago involving Azure Trustees, one of Annells' companies, and plaintiff Clemencia Gallagher, judges involved with the various hearings and appeals were scathing in their criticism of her.

Annells had drawn up a trust deed at the request of Gerard Gallagher, who subsequently died, to provide for his wife in the event of his death. One judge commented that, "The poor drafting of the deed had certainly given room for creative construction of the deed," and later, "One certainly hopes this … will never be used again as it is bound to stir up more trouble than it resolves."

The same judge said that Azure Trustees' defence "was in the words of counsel for the plaintiff, vexatious and oppressive". The judge quoted a letter from the deceased's sister criticising Annells.