ICICI UK unit accused of acting against whistle blower - Termed as ICICI Fraud

ICICI Bank UK has been accused of acting against a whistle-blower by an Employment Tribunal in the UK. Siddharth Kapoor, a former proprietary trader in ICICI Bank, had told the bank in January that one of his senior colleagues had changed some of the internal trade records to hide losses. Kapoor had alleged that the rogue trader had accumulated losses in excess of $1 million for the calendar year 2008.

In a letter to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), he said the trader was allowed to trade even after he had complained to the bank. The allegation was that the head of compliance at ICICI Bank UK neither ‘interviewed’ the concerned trader nor directed him to stop trading.

The bank subsequently fired the trader and decided to shut down the group. It also asked Kapoor to join the bank’s Mumbai office from where he was originally transferred to the UK. Kapoor, however, said he was asked to come back, as he had complained to FSA. The bank decided to pursue the case rather than go for an out-of-court settlement with Kapoor who is claiming damages from the bank.

When contacted, an ICICI spokesperson said, “ICICI Bank UK made a business decision to close the entire Proprietary Trading Group (PTG) due to changed market conditions and repatriate this particular employee to his employer ICICI Bank India where he was offered alternative employment. At all times, we acted within the terms of the employees’ contract, consistent with our general approach to other staff. The FSA was kept informed at all times. We insist that there is no connection between the whistle-blowing incident and the decision to close the PTG.”

In its ruling last month the Tribunal said: “...we then considered if there was a causal link between the closing down of PTG and the repatriation of Siddharth Kapoor to India and the protected disclosures that he had made”. The judge said there is no doubt that the profitability of the PTG had been in question since March, and that there were discussions about the viability of the group for sometime. However, the fact that the head of Treasury as late as April 6 discussed targets with Siddharth Kapoor, and then at the board meeting on the same day, Talwar (the compliance head) communicated to the head of treasury and the CEO that Sidharth Kapoor had complained to FSA, the decision to shut the group was announced, shows that the decision was a direct result of the disclosures that were made, said the judge.

“The decision to shut PTG on April 8 and transfer Kapoor on the same day was clearly detriment to the employee on part of ICICI Bank and more so because he had made protected disclosures internally, and more importantly to FSA,” said the tribunal.

Source: Economic Times e-paper

UK Employment Tribunal accuses ICICI unit of mistreating Indian whistleblower

The UK subsidiary of India's ICICI Bank has been accused by the Employment Tribunals in London of mistreating a whistleblower.

The tribunal ruling is likely to reignite fierce debate over better protection for the rights of whistleblowers.

India's largest private sector bank tried immediately to repatriate the dealer, S. Kapoor, to India against his wishes after it was confirmed he had informed the UK Financial Services Authority about alleged irregularities.

"It is our conclusion . . . the respondent [ICICI] subjected him to a detriment, and that it did so because of the protected disclosures that he made internally and, more importantly, to the FSA," the judge wrote in a ruling last month.

ICICI said the matter was subjudice but it rejected the allegation that Mr Kapoor's repatriation was linked to his disclosures, saying it was instead due to the closure of his division, the proprietary trading group.

"We insist that there is no connection between the whistleblowing incident and the decision to close the PTG," ICICI said yesterday.

Mr Kapoor is claiming damages from ICICI for "being subjected to a detriment" after making a "protected disclosure".

He started work on ICICI's proprietary trading group desk in London in November last year, which trades foreign exchange and interest rate futures.

In January, he and a colleague noticed that their superior on the three-man team was allegedly altering records to cover up his trading losses, which reached more than $1m in 2008, the tribunal ruling said. The pair reported the issue to management, prompting an internal investigation.

But Mr Kapoor was frustrated with the pace of the investigation and concerned his superior had not been suspended, so that the desk was continuing to file inaccurate accounts. He secretly reported the matter to the FSA, the ruling said.

On April 8, the day Mr Kapoor's senior managers confirmed it was he who had informed the FSA, they told him he would be repatriated to India in less than two weeks.

It fired the desk head accused of wrongdoing and made his colleague redundant. This person was the only ICICI UK employee to be made redundant during the financial crisis starting in September last year, the ruling said.

ICICI said the closure of the trading group was because of "market conditions" and added Mr Kapoor was offered "alternative employment" in India.

Read the original article here on the Financial Times Website

Going Crazy

I managed to buy a new K750i this month and since then i've been crazy on the "Macro" Mode, which allows close up shots.....
I've been loving it, though a few of these are a little distorted and Dumb, I think I'm getting better with time. Not Bad at all for a 2MP methinks.



This one is of a friends (old) phone - which belonged to Tipu Sultan.

Vijay Mallya got it free along with the Sword








I Just Love this one.....








Starship Enterprise (V3i)

My Brother's Fantasy Playchild (LMAO)

And Finally - My Bike - Negativity

Kihim

ISN'T SHE JUST BEAUTIFUL!!

Clicked from a friend's K790i at Kihim - Alibaug.

The Zoom kinda killed it, but she was quite a small froggie (around an inch in size)

Cabbies & Rickshaws

It's helpless man,

how much ever we may try, they are unavoidable necessities.
Although I achieve self-mobility around 360 days out of an average year, there always comes a time when we all have used either of these 2 modes of public transport.....

Doesn't change the fact that they ARE a menace...
Third in line would be the scooter-totting Pizza delivery guys. Can't really blame them they have a time limit, but the slower rickshaws or cabs go, the more they earn right?? so why the hurry.

Most of my swears in an average day are spent on these guys. Actually, I've gotten better at the whole "hindi" swearing thing (something to thank them for I guess??)