An Oldham solicitors firm has been fined after it failed to assess the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. 

Wrigley Claydon Solicitors, on Union Street, will pay a financial penalty of £24,123 after it reached a settlement agreement with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

It will also have to pay the cost of the investigation, which totals £600.

According to outcome details outlined by the SRA, the firm was required to but did not have in place a documented risk assessment of the money laundering risk, which violated the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds Regulations 2017.

The solicitors also failed to have in place document policies, controls and procedures to manage and mitigate the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing.

Wrigley Claydon admitted that the breach of these regulations also placed them in breach of a number of SRA principles and code of conduct requirements which aim to ensure firms follow legislation.

In the agreement decision, the SRA said: "The conduct showed a disregard for statutory and regulatory obligations and had the potential to cause harm, by facilitating dubious transactions that could have led to money laundering (and/or terrorist financing).

"This could have been avoided had the firm established adequate AML documentation and controls.

 "It was incumbent on the firm to meet the requirements set out in the MLRs 2017.

"The firm failed to do so.

"The public would expect a firm of solicitors to comply with its legal and regulatory requirements obligations, to protect against these risks as a bare minimum."

They added that the fine is in the public interest as it creates a 'credible deterrent' to others and 'signifies the risk to the public, and the legal sector, that arises when solicitors do not comply with anti-money laundering legislation and their professional regulatory rules'.

The outcome of the case was decided on November 4 and was published on November 13.