City whistleblower sacked after raising China spy concerns wins £560,000

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A former executive at a UK foreign exchange brokerage who claimed his employer asked him to help obtain a visa for an alleged Chinese spy has been awarded more than £560,000 by an employment tribunal.

Bharat Bhagani, a former compliance officer at the UK subsidiary of Goldenway Global Investments, a Hong Kong-registered group, told the London tribunal that he had been tasked with helping to secure a work visa for an individual who, it later transpired, was a “Chinese espionage agent” and was deported from the UK.

Bhagani said he was sacked after making a string of complaints to the UK financial regulator about the company, including allegations of money laundering and disclosure of the “issue of alleged Chinese espionage”, which had led to him being interviewed by UK authorities.

He won a claim for unfair dismissal last December. The tribunal in central London said in its ruling that the claimant’s belief that the company “had attempted to recruit a Chinese espionage agent” was “reasonable”.

A hearing to determine remedies for Bhagani was held in June. According to a judgment published this week, first reported by The Times, the tribunal ordered this month that Bhagani receive £564,672 in compensation.

Bhagani brought his claims of unfair dismissal against Goldenway Global Investments (UK) in September, after he complained about the company to the Financial Conduct Authority.

The former employee told the tribunal that, while being interviewed by UK authorities regarding the visa incident, he had learned that the individual suspected of being a Chinese agent had been deported.

Goldenway rejected some of the allegations made by Bhagani, but, according to the documents released by the tribunal, his evidence about the espionage agent was not “seriously challenged” by the company or its witnesses.

The tribunal added that it accepted Bhagani believed he was acting in the “public interest” when he raised his concerns about the alleged Chinese agent with the FCA.

The tribunal said in its December ruling: “The claimant was dismissed with no process being adopted, in circumstances where the respondent had no genuine belief he had committed gross misconduct, and where the reason for dismissal was his public-interest disclosures.”

Responding in January, the Chinese embassy in the UK said: “The so-called ‘Chinese espionage agent’ related to an employment dispute case [which] is completely based on hearsay evidence and also is created out of nothing. We firmly oppose any malicious slander against China.”

Goldenway Global Investments (UK) is no longer authorised to provide regulated activities and products by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, according to the regulator’s website.