City solicitor fined £27,500 over AML compliance failings. After another firm blows the whistle
02/01/2025
A solicitor was fined £27,500 for
- Failing to conduct ’adequate client due diligence’ more than seven years ago
- While handling a property transaction for the international firm Kennedys Law LLP.
Dennis Ko,
- Was a manager at Kennedys from May 2014 to September 2017.
- Was the matter partner concerning the sale of units in the Grosvenor Hotel, Bristol.
By way of an agreed outcome, Ko was found to have failed between 23 May 2017 and 12 July 2017 to
- Conduct adequate client due diligence while working on the purchase and subsequent sale of hotel units.
- Conduct sufficient ongoing monitoring of the business relationship with his client and
- Caused, allowed or acted in transactions which bore the hallmarks of fraud.
Ko was also found to have authorised or allowed payments.
- Totaling £925,000 to be made to Sanjiv Varma, who instructed Ko, £10,000 to KD Law and £133,5000 to Casa Investments Ltd, ‘which bore the hallmarks of fraud’.
The firm stopped acting for Varma in February 2018. Another firm reported the matter to the SRA in 2018.
Fining Ko, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal said
- Ko admitted to numerous failings that continued over some months.
- ‘The tribunal did not consider the misconduct so severe that there should be any interference with his ability to practise.
- The tribunal determined that a financial penalty was appropriate and proportionate to the seriousness of his misconduct.’
Ko was also ordered to pay £25,000 costs, as agreed by both parties.
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As well as owning and publishing Comsure's copyrighted works, Comsure wishes to use the copyright-protected works of others. To do so, Comsure is applying for exemptions in the UK copyright law. There are certain very specific situations where Comsure is permitted to do so without seeking permission from the owner. These exemptions are in the copyright sections of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended)[www.gov.UK/government/publications/copyright-acts-and-related-laws]. Many situations allow for Comsure to apply for exemptions. These include 1] Non-commercial research and private study, 2] Criticism, review and reporting of current events, 3] the copying of works in any medium as long as the use is to illustrate a point. 4] no posting is for commercial purposes [payment]. (for a full list of exemptions, please read here www.gov.uk/guidance/exceptions-to-copyright]. Concerning the exceptions, Comsure will acknowledge the work of the source author by providing a link to the source material. Comsure claims no ownership of non-Comsure content. The non-Comsure articles posted on the Comsure website are deemed important, relevant, and newsworthy to a Comsure audience (e.g. regulated financial services and professional firms [DNFSBs]). Comsure does not wish to take any credit for the publication, and the publication can be read in full in its original form if you click the articles link that always accompanies the news item. Also, Comsure does not seek any payment for highlighting these important articles. If you want any article removed, Comsure will automatically do so on a reasonable request if you email info@comsuregroup.com.