Ex-UBS trader “obfuscated” to his accountant for weeks
UBS in-house accountant given confusing and complex explanations by trader Kweku Adoboli for the $3.6bn (£2.2bn) black hole in the bank’s accounts, prosecution alleges
A UBS ACCOUNTANT had tried to investigate the $3.6bn (£2.2bn) black hole in the bank’s books following alleged rogue trading by Kweku Adoboli.
In a hearing at Southwark Crown Court, Adoboli was accused of obfuscation to deflect questioning from the bank’s accountants as to why the books failed to balance, Reuters reports.
Adoboli was arrested in September 2011 accused of fraud and false accounting, with KPMG recruited by the financial regulator, FSA, to lead an investigation into the trading scandal at the end of last year.
Evidence was heard from in-house accountant William Steward, who alleged he had tried to question Adoboli about the shortfall on the books but was met with deflection tactics.
Steward told the court he first realised there were problems in August 2011 when he received a report that the July accounts showed “breaks”, or discrepancies, between entries in the accounting systems.
Adoboli blamed the accounting mistakes on overwork and gave confusing explanations to Steward for the shortfall.
He denies all charges and the case is due to run for a further eight weeks.