As the fallout continues from the multi-million dollar collapse of a luxury diamond jewellery retailer in the UK, a new report has detailed a supposedly lacklustre response from regulators.
In 2013, diamond dealer Vashi Dominguez rebranded his business, previously known as Diamond Manufacturers, to Vashi and expanded to seven stores across London.
The company collapsed in 2023 with more than 170 million ($AUD350 million) in debt, and according to the report from BBC Panorama, Dominguez vanished.
The latest reporting on this matter has revealed that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) did not investigate the company despite receiving a detailed report from a whistleblower almost an entire year before it collapsed because of an 'error'.
According to the BBC report, the whistleblower – a former chief technology officer with the company – shared documents with the SFO in May 2022 and warned authorities that the owner was defrauding investors and falsifying accounts.
“SFO documents obtained by Mr Ames through a subject access request, and seen by the BBC, show that although SFO staff believed Mr Ames to be a genuine whistleblower, they closed his case the following day without contacting him,” the report reveals.
“The internal document says: "Source referred to AF [Action Fraud]" - the UK national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, run by City of London Police. But Mr Ames says he didn't hear back from the SFO or Action Fraud, and Action Fraud told Panorama it never...
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