Bank whistleblower was mistreated, Tribunal rules

The UK subsidiary of India’s ICICI Bank has been accused of mistreating a whistleblower, the London Employment Tribunal has heard.

ICICI, India’s largest private sector bank, tried to repatriate dealer S Kapoor to India after it was confirmed that he had contacted the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) to report irregularities.

Kapoor and a colleague reported a senior member of staff to the bank’s management upon discovering that he was allegedly altering records to cover his trading losses.

When the company failed to fire him, allowing the record-altering to continue, Kapoor contacted the FSA.

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ICICI claimed that the decision to repatriate Kapoor was in connection with his department’s closure, rather than the whistleblowing incident, but the tribunal judge disagreed.

Kapoor is claiming damages from ICICI for “being subjected to a detriment” after making a protected disclosure, reports the Financial Times.