I rang the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) yesterday to enquire if they intended taking action against Jim Flavin for insider trading in the Fyffes case.
I was expecting a standard response when dealing with a government agency, either a curt statement that such matters were secret or the beginning of a run around that would last months.
Instead I spoke to a courteous and professional woman who took my number and assured me that somebody would ring back in the afternoon.
I was even more surprised when Paul Appleby, the director of ODCE, rang back and in a friendly and helpful manner informed me that they were examining the High Court and Supreme Court decisions before deciding what action to take and therefore couldn’t make any further comment at this stage.
A simple question that received a straight and courteous answer – Impressive.