ICAEW excludes and fines Darren Merchant for false travel expense claims. A senior KPMG employee who dishonestly claimed more than £43,000 in expenses has been excluded from the ICAEW and fined. At an ICAEW disciplinary hearing, Darren Merchant of Dartford, Kent, admitted to claiming £43,087 in air travel.
He booked flights relating to client trips, cancelled the flights then failed to reimburse the firm. In the majority of instances he charged the flights to internal office codes rather than to the clients.
During KPMG’s own investigation he admitted that 17 flights had been claimed and cancelled or claimed twice, between May 2006 and April 2008.
Merchant didn’t dispute the allegations during KPMG’s disciplinary, and a family member who was ill had led to a debt. He had expressed his remorse, and offered to repay the sum. He had presented to cheques totalling £20,000 to the firm.
The ICAEW excluded Merchant from membership, fined him £8,000 and ordered him to pay costs of £1,000.
