Indian-origin bank staff held for £50-mn scam plot

REFLECTS SECURITY: HSBC maintains no customer funds were involved and no transactions were disrupted.

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London: The London police have arrested and charged an Indian-origin employee of HSBC bank in London for an attempted fraud worth nearly 70 million pounds.

The attempt by 25-year-old Jagmeet Channa was discovered last week at HSBC's securities services division, which settles trades for clients.

A payment to a bank reportedly raised suspicions at the division in HSBC's head office building at Canary Wharf and the police were called.

A police spokeswoman said Channa, from Ilford in Essex, was charged on April 25 with conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and abusing a position of trust.

He was remanded in custody until June 25, when he will appear at Southwark Crown Court. The police said three other men aged 26, 33 and 38 were on police bail in connection with the investigation.

HSBC said that no customer funds were involved and no transactions were disrupted. No customer or bank funds were lost, the bank added.

"HSBC is co-operating fully with a police investigation into an alleged fraud at the bank. As the matter is before the courts, we cannot comment further," a bank spokesman said.

Banks around the world have tightened anti-fraud systems after Société Générale. of France suffered losses of 4.9 billion euros in the fourth quarter from the biggest rogue trading scandal in history.