Jassen Venkatasamy

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

The SRA alleged that Mr Venkatasamy kissed Person A on the lips at a Firm social event in a manner that was inappropriate, unwanted and/or sexually motivated, breaching Principles 2 and 5 and paragraph 1.2 of the Code. Mr Venkatasamy admitted being the male involved but claimed the kiss was an inadvertent, momentary contact when intending a goodbye kiss on the cheek. The Tribunal found all witnesses to be truthful, noted that Ms Bennett's evidence supported the Respondent's account of a quick peck, and could not prefer Person A's evidence over the Respondent's. The Applicant failed to discharge the burden of proof and the allegation was dismissed with no order as to costs (the SRA sought £22,895.52 but this was refused).