Briefly: In August, the Chartered Professional Accountants of B.C. cancelled Anwar Chaudhry’s membership for misconduct, including signing false and misleading documents and associating with unlawful activity.
The organization investigated Chaudhry after learning of an RCMP probe. The names of the companies and their principals were censored from the decision.
Bob Mackin
The former chief financial officer of the Destination Canada Crown corporation is no longer a chartered professional accountant after the industry’s governing body found he signed false and misleading documents and associated with unlawful activity.
The Chartered Professional Accountants of B.C. (CPABC) cancelled Anwar Chaudhry’s membership in an Aug. 7 decision. A three-member panel, headed by Rozmin Sayani, said Chaudhry did not attend a hearing nor did he contest allegations that he violated the Code of Professional Conduct.
Anwar Chaudhry
“His conduct was not only unprofessional, it was grossly reckless,” said the ruling, which was posted on the CPABC website after an inquiry from a reporter. “And his lack of recognition and responsibility for the consequences of his conduct, coupled with his lack of cooperation with the CPABC, make him unfit to be a member of the profession.”
CPABC also fined Chaudhry $25,000 for committing six violations of the Code of Conduct and ordered him to pay costs to be determined for the hearing and investigation.
CPABC said the misconduct centred around Chaudhry’s signing of financial statements and documents as CFO of companies that he was not associated with. He also knew the statements and documents would be shown to potential investors and he knew, or should have known, they were false and misleading.
The partially censored decision said that CPABC received information from the RCMP about an investigation. In 2022, Chaudhry met with the president and CEO of a company, whose name was redacted. Although he had no previous involvement, Chaudhry signed undated, 12-month revenue forecasts for two companies with his CPA.CA designation and CFO title.
The forecasts projected monthly revenue of $135 million and total revenue of nearly $2.3 billion. Chaudhry also signed a profit and loss statement that forecast $5.52 million total revenue.
Yet, he had not reviewed the records and did not inquire about the backgrounds of the principals.
Also, he “had no objective basis from verifiable financial records to support the forecasts, did not verify the calculations or the sources of the stated revenue, did not recognize those sources were controlled by the president of [redacted], and expressed no concern for the potential risk of fraud in connection with the use of the forecasts.”
The panel said Chaudhry was told the documents he signed were intended for potential investors and, if the investments materialized, he could become the company’s CFO.
“On receiving information from the RCMP about its investigation into [redacted] and its interview of the member, in which the member admitted signing the revenue forecasts as a CPA.CA and the CFO of the companies, the CPABC sent the member a detailed letter asking for his comments. The member did not respond.”
Chaudhry’s name does not appear in B.C.’s online criminal court registry.
Chaudhry did send email to the CPABC, to say that he “trusted these individuals and these were just a few spreadsheet numbers that I signed to say they add up, as presented, and nothing more. This was not a projection or pro forma statement.”
“But any rational individual would know those were not adequate for investment purposes,” he wrote.
Chaudhry denied receiving any remuneration. The CPABC member since 1985 also called it a mistake to put his name on the statements.
Anita Ballantyne‑Berthier, spokesperson for Destination Canada, said Chauhry “ceased working” for it in August 2023.
“Any questions regarding the decision made by CPABC should be directed to them,” Ballantyne‑Berthier said.
Chaudhry joined Destination Canada, formerly known as the Canadian Tourism Commission, in 2017. He previously spent 19 years with ICBC and eight months with BC Transit before two years with Pacific Northern Gas Ltd.
The Chaudhry decision came in the wake of Business in Vancouver feature stories in July about CPABC’s tendency to withhold names of members who are subject to discipline.
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