Ex-BNP Banker Faced ‘Systemic Collusion’ Over Whistle-Blowing

(Bloomberg) -- A fired BNP Paribas SA banker, who raised allegations of bribery in Italy, said that even the bank's own investigators reported “systemic collusion” by senior management that forced him out of his job.

Fabio Filippi, the ex-head of structured products in Italy, disclosed emails showing he won support from the bank's London anti-bribery chief before being fired. The emails highlighted stark differences in the way senior officials at the bank's compliance department dealt with his claims.

The documents were disclosed in a London employment suit brought by Filippi who alleged that the French lender used a network of “rogue” agents to sell exchange-listed certificates to investors. The allegations attracted the attention of U.K. regulators already dealing with the bank's treatment of whistle-blowers and grievance processes.

“You were a victim of senior management failures to comply with the bank's procedures,” Brian Haughey, the bank's deputy money-laundering reporting officer, and Myrna Taylor, a BNP Paribas investigator, wrote in a note disclosed in the case. “Regardless of the motive, as a result of this you were not protected or dealt with as you should have been.”

The emails were sent after a secondary internal audit reached differing conclusions -- highlighting the difference between the bank's own investigators. The further review considered potentially suspicious activity by an Italian intermediary but ultimately rejected claims that Filippi had been forced out for raising the alarm.

BNP's Treatment of Bribery Whistle-Blowers Gets FCA Scrutiny

Haughey and Taylor produced a report which did not provide a sufficient level of detail and “reached conclusions unsupported by the evidence,” a BNP Paribas lawyer said in a legal filing.

In his suit Filippi, who was made redundant in the U.K. in 2018, alleges that he was ultimately forced out of his job after raising concerns about the use of an intermediary in the sale of certificates to private Italian investors.

In 2009, BNP was recording around 150 million euros ($167 million) of business in Milan through the exchange-listed certificate program, with sales routed to a network of agents and other independent financial advisers and then onto investors. The commissions paid on such certificates were “in breach of current regulation and legal obligations,” Filippi said in his witness statement.

BNP denied in a statement “that there were any conflicts of interest, systemic collusion or unauthorized payments to employees.”

BNP said previously that Filippi's “employment was not terminated as a result of him blowing the whistle.” Haughey and Taylor didn't respond to emails requesting comment.