Tony, Kalwant Chauhan
Solicitor
348061

Decision - Fined

Outcome: Fine

Outcome date: 6 December 2023

Published date: 12 January 2024

Firm details

Firm or organisation at date of publication and at time of matters giving rise to outcome

Name: Bowling & Co

Address(es): 62 Broadway, Stratford, London E15 1NG

Firm ID: 70024

Outcome details

This outcome was reached by SRA decision.

Decision details

Mr Chauhan was directed to pay a penalty of £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,350.

Reasons/basis

We have fined Mr Chauhan for his conduct when acting in five conveyancing transactions at the firm between April 2017 and May 2019.

Owing to a lack of client due diligence (CDD) it was unclear who Mr Chauhan’s client was in each of the completed transactions. He took instructions from an individual who directed the transactions but was not a formal party to them.

All the transactions had unusual features and signs of money laundering including:

1. Payments for the purchase price were made directly into the firm’s client account by third parties with no logical connection to the transaction, including a payment from abroad by a person in a country Mr Chauhan identified as high risk for money laundering.
2. A back-to-back property transaction with the asset rapidly changing value.
3. Payment for part of the purchase price of one transaction was made directly between the buyer and seller and not to the firm.
4. In one transaction the source of funds was a loan from a non-institutional lender.
5. In one transaction the money was provided by one company but title to the property was registered in the name of another.

When carrying out the transactions, Mr Chauhan failed to conduct adequate CDD and ongoing anti-money laundering and risk assessment checks or undertake adequate checks on third parties sending funds or on how they had obtained the funds and he failed to maintain proper files or documentation about the transactions.

Facts of the misconduct

It was found that Mr Chauhan was purportedly instructed by a company in respect of five conveyancing transactions. In respect of the conduct of these matters, he failed to:

1. conduct adequate customer (client) due diligence and/or ongoing antimoney laundering and risk assessment checks,
2. undertake adequate checks on the various third parties sending the funds and how they had obtained the funds, and
3. failed to maintain proper files or documentation,

and in so doing he breached Principles 6, 7 and 8 of the SRA Principles 2011 and failed to achieve Outcome 7.5 of the SRA Code of Conduct 2011.

Decision on sanction

Mr Chauhan was directed to pay a penalty of £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,350. This was because his conduct was serious by reference to the following factors in the SRA Enforcement Strategy.

1. He failed to adequately comply with anti-money laundering legislation and his regulatory obligations which left the firm vulnerable to the risk of money laundering.
2. He was responsible for his own conduct which was serious and had the potential to cause harm to the public interest and to public confidence in the legal profession.