Disciplinary outcome: James Darville

1. He failed to maintain sufficient supporting records (consisting of original documents or copies) in respect of one or more transactions subject to customer due diligence measures or ongoing monitoring in order to enable the transactions to be reconstructed in contravention of Regulation 40 of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017.
2. He failed to take appropriate measures to obtain documentation in support of verbal representations allegedly made by the client, resulting in: 
   1. An understatement of tax liabilities totalling over £300,000.00;
   2. A discrepancy of approximately £697,746.90 in the client’s deposit account;
   3. The inclusion of an undocumented “deferred consideration” adjustment on the client’s account balance sheet for the years ending 31 October 2022 and 31 October 2023;
   4. An absence of documentation to support the book values of plant, machinery and motor vehicles in the accounts prepared.
3. He failed to act with an appropriate level of care, resulting in the incorrect reporting of dividends in the company accounts of a client as well as in client personal tax returns for the years 2017 – 2023.

By reason of the conduct set out in the Allegations above, James Darville is guilty of misconduct pursuant to Article 21 of AAT’s Articles of Association.

The Investigation Team orders that James Darville is: 

1. Expelled from membership of AAT for a period of three years.

The decision of the Investigations Team shall stand as an Order of the Association pursuant to Regulations 5.2 and 5.3 of the Disciplinary Regulations.