Highlights
- High-end jeweller Vashi went into liquidation in April 2023 with debts of £170 million
- Accountant Rajnikant Chhotabhai Patel faces ICAEW disciplinary hearing on Friday (10)
- Patel already lost his ACCA membership and auditing certificate over a separate case
- Patel says he has not decided whether to attend the hearing
AN ASIAN accountant who signed off on the accounts of collapsed jeweller Vashi will face a disciplinary hearing on Friday (10), as the Metropolitan Police opens a fraud investigation into the company's collapse.
Rajnikant Chhotabhai Patel, whose firm Inger & Co is based in Ilford, east London, will face a hearing at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), which covers conduct "considered discreditable to themselves, the institute, or the accountancy profession."
Diamond Manufacturers Ltd, which traded as Vashi, was put into liquidation in April 2023 with debts of £170 million. The Metropolitan Police's complex fraud team has created a taskforce called Operation Palisade to look into "suspected economic crime" related to the company, the Times reported.
Police told investors the case has only recently reached the specialist unit. "Whilst I appreciate this matter was reported some time ago, it has only recently been allocated to the Metropolitan Police Service's complex fraud team," the email sent to investors said. It added that the matter is "effectively being progressed as a new and priority investigation within the team."
Patel was under scrutiny
Patel is no longer a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), a global body that carried out seven audit reviews into him and Inger & Co between 1998 and 2024. He had been an ACCA member since 1999.
The apex body investigated Patel in 2023 and 2024 over complaints about his audit and accountancy work for a company, and over the size of fees he charged. The company was not named in ACCA documents but was wound up in April 2023, the same month as Vashi.
Later, Patel admitted the allegations. ACCA "severely reprimanded" him and fined him £3,500, but did not cancel his membership at that stage. In a later ruling in November 2024, ACCA removed his auditing certificate.
It is not illegal for smaller firms to act as both accountant and auditor for the same private company, though the practice is heavily restricted due to potential conflicts of interest. But, it is illegal for larger, listed companies to use the same accountant and auditor.
Asked whether he would attend Friday's hearing, Patel said, "I have not made my mind up." He declined to comment on whether the hearing was linked to his work for Vashi or the company's wider financial collapse.
Liquidators found that £156m in stock declared to investors was valued at just £100,000. Accounts filed with Companies House claimed sales of more than £100m in 2021, but internal documents showed real sales of £5m.
High-profile investors in Vashi included John Caudwell, founder of Phones4u; Nick Wheeler, founder of Charles Tyrwhitt, and Clive Schlee, former boss of Pret A Manger.
Authorities have been unable to contact Vashi founder and chief executive Vashi Dominguez since he left the UK in 2023. Liquidators said in a progress report in May they believed he was in the United Arab Emirates, though his "precise location is unknown".
