Ms Louisa Mbadugha - 8-9 January 2019

Ms Louisa Mbadugha (FFA FTA FIPA)
London NW10 0NR

Complaint 

On 8 June 2017 Ms Mbadugha was found guilty of evasion of excise duty and evasion of VAT. She was sentenced to three and a half years in jail on 14 July 2017.

Ms Mbadugha was liable to disciplinary action under the IFA’s bye-laws. Bye-law 13.2(b) says: “The fact that a Member, Student, Affiliate or Member Firm…has, before a court of competent jurisdiction in the United Kingdom or in a superior court of any country whose judgements are in the opinion of the Institute relevant, pleaded guilty to or been found guilty of…any offence discreditable to them, or to the Institute or the accountancy profession…shall be conclusive proof of misconduct”.

Finding

The Disciplinary Committee found that Ms Mbadugha had engaged in conduct she knew or ought to have known would bring discredit on herself, the profession and the IFA. Notwithstanding her previously unblemished career and that she had not been a principal player in the fraud, these were nevertheless serious dishonesty offences that took place over a period of years and had resulted in a substantial loss to HMRC.

Order

Ms Mbadugha was expelled from membership and ordered to pay the Institute’s costs of £3119.