NRI banker faces bankruptcy

A former high-flying NRI banker has been banned from working in London and fined 2.9 million pounds by the UK's Financial Services Authority after he "dishonestly" obtained more than 1 million pounds to cover his debts.

Despite a salary of 886,000 pounds and potential bonuses of more than 1.3 million pounds, the global financial crisis caught up with Ravi Sinha after he embarked on a scheme of fictitiously invoicing a client advised by his employer, the private equity house JC Flowers, to obtain 1.4 million pounds, 'The Guardian' reported today.

Sinha, who was chief executive of the London arm of JC Flowers, is now expected to plunge back into bankruptcy -- a position he was only discharged from on August 23, 2011, the report said.

He borrowed 9 million euros (7.5 million pounds) to invest in funds run by JC Flowers. One of his creditors was his former employer.

While the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has passed details to the City of London police, there will not be criminal charges.

Quoting a police source, the report said the force had been keen to take on the case, while a JC Flowers spokesman said that if a criminal investigation had been launched the firm would have cooperated fully.

Tracey McDermott, FSA's acting director of enforcement and financial crime, said: "Sinha exploited his position of trust as CEO to fraudulently obtain significant sums for his personal benefit. He engaged in a dishonest, deliberate and sustained course of misconduct which lasted for several months. Such behaviour has no place in the financial services industry."

Sinha worked at Goldman Sachs in its financial institutions group, before joining JC Flowers shortly after it was set up in 2002 by former Goldman partner Christopher Flowers.