High paid banker is suspended for his unethical practices

A high-profile Indian banker in London was suspended by Citigroup after he was accused of stealing food from the office canteen.

Paras Shah, who was apparently earning a handsome seven-digit salary (in British pounds), was suspended after he stole food from the canteen at Citibank's European headquarters in Canary Wharf, London. In Indian currency, Shah took home almost Rs 9.2 crore per year.

According to Financial Times, 31-year-old Shah abruptly left his post last month as Citi's head of high-yield bond trading for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, after being accused of food theft.

Shah was one of the highest-profile credit traders in Europe. "He was a well-liked and successful trader," his two former colleagues were quoted as saying by the daily. Paras Shah had joined Citigroup in 2017 after working for seven years with HSBC. His suspension came weeks before Citigroup was due to pay bonuses to their senior staff.There is no clarity on how many times Shah stole food from the canteen.Mr Shah is not the first leading City figure to have faced serious consequences because of alleged or proven petty dishonesty.

In 2014, BlackRock director Jonathan Paul Burrows was banned from working in the financial services industry after he was caught regularly avoiding buying a train ticket on his commute to London.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said he should have been a role model for others and his conduct had "fallen short of the standard expected for someone in his position".

Mr Shah's departure came weeks before the bank was due to pay annual bonuses to senior employees.

He joined Citigroup in 2017 after spending seven years at HSBC.

His job involved trading in junk bonds, which are issued by companies with low credit ratings or short track records as a means of raising cash.

Because there is a risk that the company that issued them will default and render them worthless, they have to offer a higher return on investment, which is why they are also known as high-yield bonds.