— Varinder Ghaiwal was fined £6,000 (plus £11,000 costs) for, while acting as certificate provider in respect of a client's two LPAs, failing to verify instructions and failing to ensure that the client understood the purpose of the LPA and/or the scope of the authority they provided. The case arose after the police made a report to the SRA concerning an ongoing investigation into the elderly man's financial affairs. The SRA commissioned an expert report which concluded: "Mr Ghaiwal’s case is that he was a witness, however he was far, far more than that: a certificate provider. His failure to recognise this and therefore his failure to recognise the resulting duties and responsibilities meant that there was an egregious breach of his obligations to [the client]".
Full details available at: https://www.mentalhealthlaw.co.uk/Varinder_Ghaiwal_(2022)_MHLO_4_(SDT)?id=221122-1430