RPSGB v Mr AT

A case considered by the Disciplinary Committee of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

This matter concerned an allegation that the registrant has made a false declaration when applying for retention. When asked whether he was or had been subject to any criminal investigation or proceedings of which he had not advised the Registrar of previously, he stated he was not.

The Society’s case was that this was a false statement as in 1998, Mr AT was arrested and charged with indecent assault on a number of teenage girls. He did not answer to police bail and therefore he was never prosecuted or convicted. It was understood he was working in Lebanon and unsurprisingly chose not to appear before the inquiry. The assaults were said to have occurred on a number of teenage girls employed to assist in the dispensary.

The Committee were not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Mr AT knew the declaration was untrue however they did determine that the failure to answer bail was a serious one that demonstrated a desire to evade responsibility and consequently brought the profession into disrepute. Conduct such as this was recognised as potentially imposing a permanent blemish on the reputation of the profession. A finding of impairment consequentially followed.

At the sanction stage of the proceedings the Committee felt that given the serious breach of trust and the fact that AT had evaded criminal responsibility for 10 years, left them with no option but to order his name be removed from the register.