Douglas & Gordon facing questions over compliance record
The company's sales arm, which was bought from administration by CEO James Evans, may not be following AML and GDPR rules, it is claimed.
Douglas & Gordon is facing more questions about how the business is being run, and whether the company is complying with AML rules.
It is also being challenged about its compliance with GDPR data protection regulations.
The firm entered administration in February before CEO James Evans (main picture) bought it for £515,000 less than a week later, through a new enterprise called Brewham Holdings Ltd.
A report by administrators Grant Thornton revealed the details of the deal, including creditors being owed more than £633,000.
Questions
Now, questions are being asked about whether D&G is registered with HMRC correctly under Anti-Money Laundering rules, as it is listed under ‘Douglas & Gordon’ rather than as the parent firm ‘Brewham Holdings’.
The same problem occurs with its GDPR statement on its website, which lists ‘D&G’ as the controller, when it should be the owning company, Brewham. This is important because it could compromise the subject access rights for customers and trading partners.
Unclear
The issue of clearly identifying Brewham Holdings as the trading entity and not D&G, also means it isn’t clear to customers who they are paying.
D&G’s sales division split from the more profitable lettings business when new owners Foxtons sold it to Evans in January last year.
The independent D&G company went into administration on 24 February this year, but was purchased by Evans, through his new enterprise Brewham Holdings Ltd under a week later on 2 March.
The Neg has approached James Evans for comment.
