A former HSBC clerk was jailed for nine years today for attempting to steal £72 million in one of the biggest frauds of its kind.

Jagmeet Channa, 25, showed no remorse as Judge Geoffrey Rivlin, sitting at the Southwark Crown Court, bemoaned his limited sentencing powers in dealing with the "audacious and outrageous" crime.

Channa had previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud and another of money laundering after he admitted using colleagues' passwords to steal money from a trading account which he then wired to associates in Manchester and Morocco.

Today, Judge Rivlin told him: “This was no silly prank. This was a carefully planned and very serious attempt to transfer a fortune in money away and it almost succeeded."

Channa worked at the Canary Wharf headquarters of Britain's largest bank for less than a year. In April, the court heard, he sent €60 million from an HSBC trading account to a Societe Generale branch in Casablanca; minutes later, he wired another €30 million to a Barclays branch in Manchester.

However, Channa forgot that the account he had raided had to show a zero balance at the end of each day. The massive debit was discovered over the weekend by HSBC employees in Malaysia, who alerted colleagues in London.

Both Barclays and Societe Generale were quickly contacted and the money was returned. HSBC estimated it lost about £54,000 in interest while the money was in other accounts.

Initially, the employees whose passwords had been used by Channa were arrested and blamed for the crime. But further inquiries exonerated them and led to Channa, who was sacked by the bank.

The court heard that Channa had taken the money at the direction of one or more co-conspirators, in exchange for the promise of a handsome cut. His defence lawyer, Peter Corrigan, said: “Because he had the sort of job he did, offers were made to him and he succumbed to temptation."

However, Channa's refusal to cooperate with police meant that no other party involved in the crime has yet been identified.

Judge Rivlin said: "Others were inolved, perhaps several others, and in the absence of any explanation from you I must assume this was a planned and sophisticated criminal enterprise.

"You say you had no idea who these people were or what was going to happen to the money. I regret I cannot accept this statement."

The judge told Channa that while his guilty pleas would attract some credit, “the evidence against you is quite overwhelming”. His confession, age, remorse and the fact he had not made a penny from his dishonesty were among the few other things in his favour.

Judge Rivlin compared the maximum 10-year sentence available to the 14 years that could be passed for handling and burglary. But he said he must nevertheless "do all that I can to deter those employed by financial institutions from committing such offences".

He added: “Where anyone acting in flagrant breach of trust and attempts to steal many millions of pounds, the sentence will inevitably be a very long one."

Detective Sergeant Martin Peters said: “This crime is believed to be one of the largest frauds of its kind and it is thanks to the prompt response of the police and the banks that the money was recovered.

“The City of London Police takes a robust stance against members of staff that abuse their position and steal from their employer.”

The attempted fraud occurred at a sensitive time for the banking sector. It took place just months after Societe Generale, the French bank, alleged that trader Jerome Kerviel lost €4.9 billion (£3.8 billion), while Credit Suisse later revealed that some of its traders had caused pricing errors leading to a $2.85 billion (£1.4 billion) writedown.

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