The UK arm of Arthur Anderson, the accountancy firm that collapsed following its role as chief auditor to Enron, has been cleared of any professional wrongdoing in its involvement with the bankrupt energy group.

The Accountants Joint Disciplinary Scheme (JDS), the UK profession’s regulatory body, has also absolved Lord Wakeham, a former Conservative energy minister and Enron non-executive director, of any wrongdoing.

Lord Wakeham, a former chief Conservative whip under Margaret Thatcher, was the only accountant on Enron’s audit committee at the time of its collapse in December 2001.

This morning the JDS, which has been investigating Lord Wakeham and Arthur Andersen for five and a half years, said it would take no further action against either.

It said there was no evidence to support allegations made by US prosecutors that accountants working at Arthur Andersen in the UK had deliberately destroyed Enron-related documents to help the energy group disguise its true financial position.

The shredding allegations were a key plank of the US case against Arthur Andersen, which was convicted of obstructing justice by a US jury in June 2002.

That conviction was quashed in May 2005, by which time Arthur Andersen had been dissolved and subsumed into Deloitte, a rival firm.

The JDS, which has the power to reprimand and fine accountancy firms or individual practitioners, noted that US investigators had decided against bringing criminal or regulatory charges against all Enron non-executives, including Lord Wakeham.

Given the huge resources and time US investigators had already devoted to Enron, the JDS said it would be impractical to try and uncover new information about Lord Wakeham’s role and that it would not be in the public interest to do so.

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