Banker fired over dodgy expenses claim for pasta pesto and a bolognese
A Citibank worker lied about buying his partner food such as pasta pesto and a bolognese and charging it to his employer, a tribunal heard.
Szabolcs Fekete, a former senior analyst, sued the US bank alleging unfair and wrongful dismissal after he was sacked over his expenses for a trip abroad last year.
Fekete, who had worked at Citi since 2015, travelled with his partner, who was not a bank employee, on the three-day trip to Amsterdam from July 3.
But Citibank bosses’ brows were raised when Fekete submitted his expenses and believed the meals on receipt had been for two people, rather than just him.
Fekete, according to the ruling which was made public on Friday, argued the amounts were all well within the company’s €100 a day limit.
He initially claimed he had been dining alone, having eaten two sandwiches, two coffees and two pasta dishes.
In an email exchange detailed in the East London employment tribunal ruling, Fekete told his manager: ‘I was on the business trip by myself and… I had two coffees as they were very small.’
He added: ‘On that day I skipped breakfast and only had one coffee in the morning.
‘For lunch, I had one sandwich with a drink and one coffee in the restaurant, and took another coffee back to the office with me and had the second sandwich in the afternoon… which also served as my dinner.’
Fekete felt he didn’t need to ‘justify [his] eating habits to this extent’.
A still sceptical senior manager brought the reimbursement claims to Citi’s ethics office, where an internal investigation asked Fekete over Zoom if he shared ‘pasta pesto and a bolognese’ with his partner.
Fekete denied this but admitted later in August some of the food had, in fact, been eaten by his partner.
The review concluded in October that Fekete had lied and breached Citi’s expense management policy.
Fekete told a disciplinary hearing at the time he had lost a loved one and had been on medical leave and medication for six weeks while replying to his boss’ questions about the expenses.
He was dismissed just one month later before taking Citi to court.
Employment Judge Illing sided with the company at the tribunal.
The judge said: ‘I have found that this case is not about the sums of money involved. This case is about the filing of the expense claim and the conduct of the claimant thereafter.
‘It is significant that the claimant did not make a full and frank disclosure at the first opportunity and that he did not answer questions directly.’
Judge Illing added: ‘The claimant was employed in a position of trust in a global financial institution.
‘I am satisfied that even if the expense claim had been filed under a misunderstanding, there was an obligation upon the claimant to own up and rectify the position at the first opportunity.
‘I accept that the respondent requires a commitment to honesty from its employees.’
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