Legal regulator seeks to appeal Dentons anti-money laundering dismissal

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is seeking to appeal the decision in its anti-money laundering claim against law firm Dentons.

In March, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) dismissed the legal regulators case against Dentons after the Tribunal found the firm didn’t breach the SRA principles.

The largest law firm in the world (by size) was accused of breaching anti-money laundering regulations when acting for a client. The SRA said the firm failed when acting for a politically exposed person (PEP) to take adequate measures to establish his source of wealth.

The case went to a hearing at the Tribunal in early March where the regulator outlined it case, accusing the firm of failing acting for an unnamed PEP between May 2013 and June 2017, to discharge its obligation to source the wealth and funds of its clients.

However, just a week at the hearing, the Tribunal handed down a quick decision, dismissing the case against the firm.

A spokesperson for the firm commented in June follow the written decision, “we welcome this decision from the SDT, which dismisses the SRA’s case.”

They explained:”The SRA’s own guidance to the profession is that there may be breaches of the money laundering regulations that are not sufficiently serious to warrant disciplinary action. We are pleased that the SDT found that any breach of the money laundering regulations had been inadvertent, did not amount to professional misconduct and that there had been no breach of the Principles or Code.”

“The SDT also recognised that we not only had relevant and responsible anti-money laundering policies in place, but that we enforced those policies,” the spokesperson added.

Now, the SRA are seeking to appeal the decision of the Tribunal, as according to a statement for the regulator, the appeal was lodged with the High Court on 9 July but the grounds for appeal will be disclosed at a later date.

The statement noted that the High Court’s Administrative division will announce dates for any hearings.

Dentons has declined to comment on the news of the appeal application.