Indian banker in Britain jailed for fraud

London -- A senior Indian bank manager with Barclays has been jailed for three years for defrauding the bank of more than 500,000 pounds.

Rajesh Patel, a qualified chartered accountant, felt he was not being paid enough despite earning 200,000 pounds annually and siphoned the money over four years. He also spent 161,000 pounds on his company credit card.

The 36-year old head of finance control at Barclays spent most of the money on a 750,000-pound house in Westminster, the Metro newspaper reported.

His crime was discovered in June 2006 when a 101,000 pound cheque was returned from a property company and Barclays found Patel had inserted the figure '10' before a payment of 1,000 pound.

"It is sad to see a man of your previously good reputation and skills here. The motive, to put it bluntly, was greed," the judge said Wednesday.

"You have lost your job, ruined your career, lost your home and good reputation. You only have yourself to blame for this," the judge added.

Patel pleaded guilty to charges of misusing the company credit card, deception and false accounting of expenses.