India's leading private lender ICICI Bank's UK subsidiary has been accused by the Employment Tribunal in London of mistreating a whistleblower, a media report says.
According to the report in the Financial Times, the bank tried immediately to repatriate the dealer, S Kapoor, to India against his wishes after it was confirmed that he had informed the UK Financial Services Authority about alleged irregularities.
In a ruling last month on the case, the Judge wrote, "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."
Meanwhile, ICICI Bank said the matter was subjudice but it rejected the allegation that Kapoor's repatriation was linked to his disclosures, saying it was instead due to the closure of his division, the proprietary trading group.
The FT quoted the bank as saying that, "we insist that there is no connection between the whistleblowing incident and the decision to close the PTG."
In January, Kapoor 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 $1 million in 2008, the tribunal ruling said. The pair reported the issue to management, prompting an internal investigation, the daily said.
But Kapoor was frustrated with pace of the investigation and concerned that his superior had not been suspended, so the desk was continuing to file inaccurate accounts. He secretly reported the matter to the FSA, the ruling said.
On April 8, the day Kapoor's senior managers confirmed that it was he who had informed the FSA, they told him he would be repatriated to India in less than two weeks.
The ruling further stated that the company fired the desk head accused of wrongdoing and made his colleague (Kapoor) redundant. This person was the only ICICI UK employee to be made redundant during the financial crisis starting in September last year.
However, the ICICI Bank said the closure of the trading group was because of "market conditions" and added Kapoor was offered "alternative employment" in India, the FT report said.
Kapoor is claiming damages from ICICI Bank for "being subjected to a detriment" after making a "protected disclosure", it added.
He had started work on ICICI's London-based proprietary trading group desk, which trades in foreign exchange and interest rate futures, in November 2008.
