LSBC’s ex-professional standards boss avoids disbarment over dodgy expenses
Kenseelan Gounden admitted misappropriating $3,500 in new role as CEO of CLBC
A lawyer who once managed the Law Society of British Columbia’s professional standards department has been suspended from practice for 16 months after submitting falsified expense claims to his new employer.
According to a recent disciplinary decision, Kenseelan Gounden admitted misappropriating $3,500 from the B.C. Courthouse Libraries Society (CLBC) during his short spell as CEO.
Despite the relatively low amount of money involved, the LSBC hearing panel was satisfied that the nature and gravity of Gounden’s misconduct was “at the most serious end of the spectrum.”
“The Respondent’s misconduct spanned nearly a one-year period and constituted a fundamental breach of trust. He falsified receipts and other documents and intentionally misappropriated funds from his employer,” the decision reads.
The panel went on to note that “disbarment is usually considered the appropriate sanction for intentional misappropriation of funds,” but accepted that the parties’ joint proposal of a 16-month suspension would maintain public confidence in the profession and disciplinary process, thanks to the “significant mitigating factors” at play.
Gounden spent almost two decades at the LSBC before leaving in 2017 to take the top job at CLBC. Travel and dining expenses were contemplated as part of the relationship-building aspect of the CEO role, according to the decision, but Gounden lasted barely a year in the job after his employer confronted him about claims relating to a June 2018 visit to Canmore, Alta. that had already been covered by his hosts, the Canadian Avalanche Association.
The ruling says Gounden admitted doctoring receipts to boost the value of his airfare and car rental charges, and changing the credit card number on a hotel bill to make it look like he had paid for the room, when in fact the CAA had paid directly.
Following his resignation from CLBC in July 2018, Gounden reported himself to the LSBC. At his disciplinary hearing, he also admitted filing 27 separate expense forms over the course of his employment that he knew – or ought to have known – were altered to claim more than he was entitled or that did not relate to CLBC business.
These claims included reimbursement for parking, mileage, meals, hotel costs, airfare, ferry costs and taxi fares, the decision says. Gounden paid just over $4,300 to reimburse CLBC in full for his wrongfully submitted claims. A misunderstanding meant that figure was more than was necessary, but he did not seek to have any returned.
Gounden’s previously spotless disciplinary record in 29 years at the bar, expressions of remorse, commitment to treatment and rehabilitation, as well as his traumatic personal history all weighed in favour of a lighter sentence than disbarment, the panel wrote.
In addition, the panel members noted that 12 references – including six from former LSBC benchers – attesting to Gounden’s integrity, good ethics and morals indicated his misconduct was entirely out of character, while restrictive conditions on his return to practice appropriately managed the low risk he would reoffend.
“The Panel finds that the proposed disciplinary action strikes the appropriate balance between the gravity of the Respondent’s misconduct and the other mitigating circumstances,” they concluded, ordering Gounden to pay the law society’s costs of just over $5,000.
Lawyers for neither party wished to comment on the ruling, although Jason Kuzminski, a spokesperson for the LSBC, noted that it had retained external counsel “to ensure the integrity of the process,” given Gounden’s tenure there between 1998 and 2017 – first as a professional conduct lawyer, and later as manager of professional standards and practice advice.
None of the panellists who adjudicated the case had prior direct contact with Gounden, Kuzminski added.
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