Roche Legal Limited, a recognised body, authorised and regulated by the SRA has agreed to pay a financial penalty in the sum of £4,698 for for failure to comply with money laundering regulations.
The SRA carried out an investigation into the firm following an inspection by our AML Proactive Supervision team.
Their inspection identified areas of concern in relation to the firm’s compliance with the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLRs 2017), the SRA Principles 2011, the SRA Code of Conduct 2011, the SRA Principles 2019 and the SRA Code of Conduct for Firms 2019.
During the investigation, historic breaches of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007, for conduct before the MLRs 2017 came into force, were identified too.
The conduct showed a disregard for statutory and regulatory obligations and had the potential to cause harm, by facilitating dubious transactions that could have led to money laundering.
The SRA considers that a fine is the appropriate outcome because it “creates a credible deterrent to others and the issuing of such a sanction signifies the risk to the public and the legal sector”.
