The former Ghanaian UBS banker, Kweku Adoboli who was jailed in the United Kingdom (UK) for fraud, says deporting him to Ghana is a worse punishment than being jailed in the UK.
Adoboli despite appeals from 114 MPs and MSPs against the decision to be deported — was on Wednesday, 12 September 2018 — transported to an immigration removal center near Heathrow airport as the British government prepares to deport him.
Adoboli in an interview with The Guardian from the detention center stated that he served four years in jail for a non-violent crime which he is yet to understand;
“I did four years in prison for a non-violent act,” he said
“I’ve served my time, but I’m being given an extra punishment – a banishment – and just because I didn’t get around to becoming a citizen. This punishment is so much worse than being in prison.” He added
Adoboli who has lived in the UK since the age of 12 was found guilty in 2012 of fraud that lost his Swiss bank $2.3 billion (£1.8bn). He was released from prison on probation in 2015 after serving half of a seven-year sentence.
The 38-year-old has been detained at Dungavel immigration removal center in Scotland.
On Wednesday, he was transported to Colnbrook immigration removal center, close to Heathrow.
He is scheduled to arrive in Ghana on 18 September.
His case is considered as the ‘Largest trading loss’.
During his trial at Southwark Crown Court in 2012, he had denied the charges, which related to the period between October 2008 and September 2011.
He had told the jury his senior managers were aware of his actions and encouraged him to take risks.
But the jury was told he lost the money in “unprotected, unhedged, incautious and reckless” trades.
The judge, Mr Justice Keith, had told him when he was sentenced: “Whatever the verdict of the jury, you would forever have been known as the man responsible for the largest trading loss in British banking history.”
He lost an appeal against deportation in 2016 and had wanted to take a judicial review to the Supreme Court about the Home Office’s request to deport him.
Amid several Scottish politicians have become involved in supporting him against the Home Office moves.
