DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF CHARTERED CERTIFIED ACCOUNTANTS

DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF CHARTERED CERTIFIED ACCOUNTANTS REASONS FOR DECISION In the matter of: MR ASAD BABAR Heard on: 1 July 2014 and 3 October 2014 Location: Committee: Legal Adviser: The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, 12 Bloomsbury Square, London, WC1A 2LP & 29 Lincoln s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3EE Mr C Chapman (Chairman), Ms R Sukkersudha (Accountant) and Mr M Lamb (Lay) Mr Iain Ross & Mr Richard Ferry-Swainson Persons present and capacity: Ms Acker (Case Presenter) Ms Cawley-Wilkinson (Case Presenter) Mrs Bernice Ash (Committee Officer Observers: None 1. ACCA was represented by Ms Elisabeth Acker of Counsel. Mr Babar was not present and was not represented. The Committee had a bundle of papers numbered 1-99 and a separate service bundle pages 1-40. PROCEEDING IN ABSENCE 2. Ms Acker applied for the hearing to proceed in Mr Babar s absence. 3. The Committee first considered whether notice of the hearing had been served on Mr Babar in accordance with the requirements of the Complaints and Disciplinary Regulations (CDR). The Committee was satisfied that notice of the hearing was sent to Mr Babar s recorded address on 2 May 2014 and also on 21 May 2014. The Committee noted the contents of an email from Mr Babar to ACCA dated 17 April 2014 in which he confirmed that his registered address is as held by ACCA. In the circumstances, the Committee was satisfied that notice of the hearing had been served in accordance with CDR 21 which provides that notice is properly served if sent by post to the relevant person s registered address. 4. The Committee next considered whether to proceed in the Mr Babar s absence. The Committee received and accepted the advice of the Legal Advisor that the Committee could proceed in Mr Babar s absence, if having exercised the utmost care and caution, it

was right to do so. The Committee also had regard to the factors set out in the ACCA guidance note on proceeding in the absence of a respondent. 5. The Committee had regard to Mr Babar s emails to ACCA dated 20 June 2014 in which he stated that he did not want to receive any of the case papers and that he had nothing more to say or prove and didn t want to attend the hearing. The Committee was satisfied that Mr Babar was aware of today s hearing and had voluntarily absented himself. The Committee noted that Mr Babar had not applied for an adjournment nor had arranged to be represented. The Committee noted that Mr Babar had set out detailed points in his defence in various emails to which the Committee would have regard. In the circumstances, the Committee concluded that no useful purpose would be served by adjourning the hearing. Having weighed the public interest in the hearing proceeding without delay with Mr Babar s interests in being present, the Committee determined to proceed in Mr Babar s absence. BACKGROUND/ALLEGATION 6. Mr Babar was born on 25 October 1990 and is resident in Pakistan. He was registered as an ACCA student on 5 September 2012. He has exemptions for examinations F1, F2 and F3. 7. On 3 December 2012, Mr Babar is recorded as having attended the Karachi examination centre and completing an F5 examination. On 3 January 2013, following an external examiners review it was discovered that several offensive statements had been written in the exam script identified as being Mr Babar s answer booklet. Allegation 1 Pursuant to bye-law 8(a)(i), Mr Asad Babar is guilty of misconduct by reason of writing offensive statements in his F5 exam script when he wrote, amongst other things; I will attack India Then I will attack the west and Europe world war III will be started by me just as Hitler started world war II I am the person that will exterminate your race from the face of the Earth. ASAD BABAR will one day be the leader of the Earth

Application to adduce further evidence 8. As a result of a question to Ms Acker from a member of the Committee seeking clarification of the examination process, Ms Acker sought instructions and then indicated that ACCA could produce an additional witness who could answer the question asked and applied for leave for this witness to give oral evidence at the hearing by telephone. 9. The Committee having received advice from the Legal Adviser considered that it could only determine whether to allow this additional evidence to be heard if the evidence was reduced to writing and served on Mr Babar. 10. Consequently the Committee adjourned the hearing and made the following order: ORDER 1. Any additional evidence on which ACCA intend to rely must be reduced to writing and served on Mr Babar by 29 July 2014. 2. Any response from Mr Babar to this additional evidence must be served on ACCA by 26 August 2014. 3. The matter to be re-listed before the same Committee who will consider any application to admit any additional evidence at the outset of the hearing, such evidence to be provided to the Committee in advance of the adjourned hearing. RESUMED HEARING 11. The hearing resumed on Friday 3 October 2014. Miss Cawley-Wilkinson appeared on behalf of ACCA. Mr Babar was not present and not represented. In addition to the original papers the Committee had a further service bundle numbered 41 to 53 and a further bundle of evidence numbered 100 to 119. The Committee had yet to decide whether to admit this further evidence bundle. 12. In the absence of Mr Babar, Miss Cawley-Wilkinson made an application to proceed in his absence.

SERVICE AND PROCEEDING IN ABSENCE 13. The Committee accepted the Legal Adviser s advice that because this was an adjourned hearing, provided it was satisfied that service had been effective for the original hearing on 1 July 2014, the only requirement thereafter is that the relevant person is notified as soon as practicable after the adjournment of the new hearing date. The Committee had already determined on the previous occasion that service had been effective and so went on to consider the notification for this hearing. The Notice providing the resumed date was sent to Mr Babar at his address as it appears in the register and it was sent on 11 July 2014. The Committee was satisfied that this was as soon as practicable and that accordingly service had been carried out in accordance with the Regulations. 14. The Committee then decided whether to proceed in Mr Babar s absence. The Committee noted that Mr Babar had not responded to a number of letters sent to him by ACCA about the adjourned hearing, the additional material and the new hearing date. The Committee also noted that these same documents had been sent to an email address that Mr Babar had been using to communicate with ACCA as recently as 20 June 2014. That email is referred to in paragraph 5 above. Mr Babar had not responded to any of the emails. Two attempts were made by a Committee Officer to phone Mr Babar, but on both occasions the phone was call was cut off almost immediately. The Committee thus decided that Mr Babar had voluntarily waived his right to be present at the hearing. He had not requested an adjournment and the Committee considered that nothing would be gained by adjourning the matter further. There was a clear public interest in the matter going ahead and accordingly the Committee decided to proceed in Mr Babar s absence. In so deciding, the Committee observed that Mr Babar had provided written representations earlier in the proceedings and that these would be taken into account by the Committee in reaching its decisions. APPLICATION TO ADDUCE FURTHER EVIDENCE 15. The hearing on 1 July 2014 was adjourned following a question by one of the Committee members seeking clarification of the examination process. In response to that question, the Case Presenter indicated that ACCA could produce an additional witness who could answer the question. During the adjourned period ACCA provided further material to both Mr Babar and the Committee, in accordance with the Order at paragraph 10 above. That material consisted of an email from a Senior Examinations Administrator at ACCA, a blank Attendance Docket and an Absentee Record. Miss Cawley-Wilkinson made an application to admit this new evidence. The Committee accepted the legal advice that it could admit

evidence if it considered it to be relevant and that it would not be unfair to admit it. Miss Cawley-Wilkinson indicated that the material would assist to answer the question posed by the Committee member and in particular dealt with the process of identifying a candidate at the exam centre. The Committee was satisfied that it was relevant material and that, absent any opposition from Mr Babar, it would not be unfair to admit it. Accordingly, the Committee agreed to accept the new evidence. BACKGROUND (continued) 16. A copy of the F5 Attendance Sheet provided by the Examination Centre Operations Manager confirmed that Mr Babar was recorded as present at the F5 exam in question. In the attendance column Mr Babar has been confirmed as present ( P ) and his exam script was marked as R in the Script Indicator column, which stands for Regular script for marking. The new material provided by ACCA detailed what is meant by an Attendance Docket and outlined the process of identifying the candidate at the Exam Centre. An Attendance Docket is an A4 document which is available to candidates to download from their ACCA accounts 4-6 weeks before the examination session commences. For the candidate this document provides all relevant details pertaining to their examination sitting, such as venue address, desk number, start time and exam duration. This also includes the candidate s ACCA registration number, name and photograph and candidates are required to date and sign the Docket upon receipt. For ACCA this is said to be a crucial document in confirming a candidate s attendance at the exam centre. The Attendance Docket is only brought to the exam centre by the candidate and this provides ACCA with confirmation of the candidate s physical attendance at the exam centre. 17. At the exam centre candidates must place their Dockets on their desks along with their identification and these are then collected by the supervisor/invigilator during the examination and an identity check carried out. If a candidate fails to produce some form of approved identification then they are required to complete a No ID form. Acceptable forms of identification are those with official photographic records such as a passport, driving licence or an ACCA issued identity card. Mr Babar had been issued with an ACCA identity card. Miss Cawley-Wilkinson said that unfortunately ACCA would not have a record of a No ID form dating back to 2012 in order to be able to check if Mr Babar was issued with such a form. 18. Miss Cawley-Wilkinson submitted that the statements set out in the Allegation, whether taken individually or collectively, are wholly inappropriate and bring discredit to Mr Babar and have the potential to bring discredit to ACCA and the accountancy profession. She

submitted that such conduct was not befitting of an ACCA student and that Mr Babar is guilty of misconduct, pursuant to bye-law 8(a)(i). She also drew the Committee s attention to a further comment on page 38 of the Bundle along similar lines to those replicated in the Allegation. Mr Babar s case 19. In an email dated 14 April 2014, Mr Babar stated that he was quite surprised and to be honest amused by the charges leveled [sic] against me and my conduct. The fact that I didn t attend the F5 paper at all will be hard to believe but is the truth without any doubt. He goes on to say that the statements attributed to him were not in fact made by him and that someone else must have used his identity. He points out that someone had hacked into his email account and obtained his ACCA details and passwords. He said that he was severely ill at the time and did not attend his exams. He also asked that his handwriting be checked. In a further email dated 16 April 2014, Mr Babar claimed that this was a malicious attempt by someone with an intention to destroy his education and career. 20. In an email dated 20 June 2014, Mr Babar said to an ACCA Committee Officer that she should not send him the papers for the Disciplinary hearing because he did not want them. In a further email of the same date and responding to the question of whether he will be attending the hearing, Mr Babar said that he had nothing more to say, he hoped it [his account] would be taken seriously and that he did not want to attend. There has been no further correspondence from him. DECISION ON FACTS/ALLEGATIONS AND REASONS 21. The Committee considered carefully the submissions made by Miss Cawley-Wilkinson on behalf of ACCA and took into account the contents of the papers provided. The Committee accepted the advice of the Legal Adviser. 22. The Committee was satisfied on the balance of probabilities, relying in particular on the Candidate Answer Booklet, the Attendance Sheet and the Attendance Docket material, that the person sitting the F5 examination on 3 December 2012 was Mr Babar. All the evidence indicated that it was him. The checks carried out on exam candidates are comprehensive and the Committee considered it would be very difficult for someone to impersonate an ACCA student and for it not to be picked up during the identification check. The Committee thought it highly unlikely that any one would go to such lengths in an effort to in some way cause problems for Mr Babar. The Committee noted that Mr Babar had only made the

suggestion that someone must have impersonated him but that there was no evidence to support this contention and the Committee did not find it remotely credible. 23. Having concluded that it was Mr Babar who sat the F5 exam, the Committee was also satisfied that it must have been him who wrote the comments. The Committee found the comments to be offensive. The Committee noted that in addition to the comments reproduced in the allegation, there was also the following comment at page 38 of the bundle, In the end I just want to say that after twenty years I will come to power I will then as god has desired exterminate all the jews in the world and kill all Britishers and jews and non-muslims. The Committee thought it appropriate, when considering misconduct, to also consider this comment in light of the fact that the Allegation uses the words in his F5 exam script when he wrote, amongst other things..., thereby not limiting the Allegation to those comments reproduced in the Allegation. 24. The Committee was in no doubt that such behaviour brought discredit upon Mr Babar and had the potential to bring discredit upon ACCA and the accountancy profession. Accordingly, the Committee concluded that the behaviour amounted to misconduct. 25. The Committee therefore found the Allegation proved. SANCTION AND REASONS 26. The Committee was referred to the Guidance for Disciplinary Sanctions. The Committee was cognisant of the fact that the purpose of sanctions was not to punish Mr Babar, but to protect the public, maintain public confidence in the profession and maintain proper standards of conduct and that any sanction must be proportionate. The Committee accepted the advice of the Legal Adviser. 27. When deciding on the appropriate sanction, the Committee carefully considered the aggravating and mitigating features in this case. The Committee was unable to identify any mitigating factors. 28. The Committee did not consider there to be any aggravating factors over and above the content of the Allegation itself. 29. The Committee considered all the options available from the least serious upwards and concluded that the only appropriate and proportionate sanction was removal from the student register. Expressing such extreme views, and doing so in an ACCA exam,

represents a serious departure from the relevant professional standards and was fundamentally incompatible with being a student of ACCA. It is such a serious breach of bye-law 8 that no other sanction would adequately reflect the gravity of the offending behaviour. Because Mr Babar had not participated in this hearing there was no evidence of insight, mitigation or remorse. The Committee was of the view that there were no exceptional circumstances that would allow it to consider a lesser sanction. The Committee considered that a failure to remove a student from the register who had behaved in this way, would seriously undermine public confidence in the profession and in ACCA as its regulator. In order to maintain public confidence and uphold proper standards in the profession it was necessary to send out a clear message that this sort of behaviour would not be tolerated. COSTS AND REASONS 30. ACCA applied for costs in the sum of 2256.50. The Committee considered that this was a reasonable sum for the work undertaken and that, absent any representations by Mr Babar, it was appropriate to make an order in that sum. EFFECTIVE DATE OF ORDER 31. In light of its decision that Mr Babar s misconduct was so serious that he should be removed from the student register, the Committee decided that it was in the interests of the public that the order should have immediate effect. PUBLICITY 32. ACCA s Regulations require it to publish the above findings and orders by way of a news release naming the relevant person, as soon as practicable. The Committee has a discretion as to which publications the news release should be sent and has a further discretion, but only in exceptional circumstances, to direct that the relevant person is not named. No such circumstances have been identified in this case. It is plainly in the public interest that disciplinary findings and orders should be published and should not be suppressed. The Committee accordingly directed that the news release should be published on ACCA s website and sent to the local press, referring to Mr Babar by name.

Chris Chapman Chairman Date 3 October 2014