A law firm worker 'misappropriated' at least £338,000 by making fraudulent tax claims, an investigation by the body regulating solicitors has concluded.
Sarah Tyler admitted that her conduct was dishonest and that she make the fraudulent claims during the probe, according to details of the case published by the Solicitor Regulation Authority.
She was working for Cardiff-based firm Hek Jones Ltd, which is on Cathedral Road, at the time of the fraud but was dismissed after the firm realised what she had been doing and has now been barred from working for any regulated legal firm.
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According to the Solicitor Regulation Authority (SRA), Ms Tyler carried out her deceit by by making statements to HMRC and the Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA) which undervalued property prices or wrongly classified the properly transaction. The claims were made between October 2020 and November 2021.
Ms Tyler sent completion statements to clients with the correct amount of tax payable which would be received into the client account. She would then input an incorrect amount when submitting the online tax return, thus reducing the amount of tax due to be sent to HMRC. This created an excess amount being left on the clients’ matters.
Ms Tyler - who is not a solicitor - then instructed the firm’s accounts department to make payments to five different third parties who were known personally to her. These payments were described as referral payments. Ms Tyler would then contact the third party and claim that there had been a payment made in error to them. She would then request that they send it back to the firm. However, she gave her own bank account details to the third parties who would then make the payments to her.
Hek Jones discovered the fraud during a review of letters from HMRC and the WRA. Ms Tyler was dismissed following the firm’s subsequent investigation and the matter was reported to the SRA. Because she is not a solicitor Ms Tyler cannot be struck off. Instead, she is not allowed to work in any firm that the SRA regulates without the authority's express permission.
The SRA made her subject to a section 43 order because her conduct "makes it undesirable for her to be involved in a legal practice because her conduct was dishonest". Ms Tyler admitted that she misappropriated at least £338,000 from her firm, that her conduct means her involvement in a legal practice is "undesirable" and that her conduct was dishonest.
Ms Tyler has since apologised to the firm and "expressed regret and remorse for her actions" and has agreed to pay the costs of the SRA’s investigation in the sum of £3,150.
South Wales Police said that it had arrested a 54-year-old woman from Taffs Well on suspicion of fraud. She has since been released under investigation. Enquiries continue.
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