A consultant formerly with City firm Penningtons Manches Cooper has been fined for breaching Solicitors Regulation Authority accounts rules – 14 years after being struck off as a solicitor.

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The SRA said it had fined Vinay Veneik £6,750 and ordered him to pay £1,350 costs after finding that he had requested two payments from his firm’s client account that were not related to an underlying legal transaction.

He also failed to conduct adequate due diligence of a client and failed to apply enhanced monitoring as required for transactions involving precious metals and originating from a high-risk country.

The SRA said Veneik’s conduct had the potential to cause significant harm, although there was no evidence that money laundering occurred. The matters occurred in 2020 and the decision notice states that Veneik is no longer employed with Penningtons Manches Cooper.

Veneik was said to be an experienced member of the profession who had direct control and responsibility for his conduct, and any sanction less than a fine would not provide a credible deterrent. However the regulator placed his conduct at the lower end of the financial penalty bracket, saying it did not form part of a pattern of misconduct and there was ‘limited risk’ of repetition.

Penningtons Manches (as it was then called) was granted permission in 2017 by the SRA to employ Veneik as a consultant. This was required as Veneik – then with Berwin Leighton Paisner – had been struck off the roll by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in 2009.

The SRA said at the time that Veneik’s re-employment in the legal sector would ‘not put public confidence in the administration of justice and the provision of legal services or the interests of clients at risk’.

The Gazette has contacted Penningtons Manches Cooper for comment.