UK detains Kweku Adoboli ahead of deportation to Ghana

Kweku Adoboli, the former UBS trader who was jailed after running up the largest unauthorised trading loss in UK history, is facing deportation from Britain to Ghana after being detained on Monday at an immigration detention centre in Scotland.

The Home Office has indicated that it intends to deport Mr Adoboli on or shortly after 10th September, said a spokesman for him.

After reporting to Livingston police station on Monday, the 38-year-old was taken to Dungaval immigration removal centre at Strathaven.

Mr Adoboli, who was born in Ghana, has exhausted nearly all of his legal options trying to stay in the UK, where he has lived since he was 12. Last month, a court ruled that the Home Office could begin the process of deporting him.

The former UBS trader was found guilty in 2012 of causing a $2.3bn unauthorised trading loss.

Mr Adoboli argues that his close friends and family ties to the UK, his efforts to prevent similar crimes to his, being at low risk of re-offending and being non-violent mean that he should be granted permission to stay He was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to serve half of that term. Under British law, any foreign national sentenced to more than four years in jail is subject to automatic deportation.

Mr Adoboli has been living with friends in Scotland since his release. He has spent much of his time speaking to audiences ranging from students to business executives on banking and leadership reform, and on how to prevent a repeat of his actions.

He has argued that his close friends and family ties to the UK — he lives with two of his godchildren, whom he helps care for — and his efforts to prevent similar crimes to his, along with the fact that he is at low risk of re-offending and is non-violent, mean he should be granted permission to stay.

Jacqueline McKenzie, Mr Adoboli’s lawyer, is preparing a fresh legal claim that she plans to lodge with the Home Office later on Monday in a last-ditch effort to keep him in Britain.

He lived in Ghana until he was four. For the following eight years, he lived in the Middle East, and was sent to boarding school in the north of England at the age of 12.

While he has stayed in Britain ever since, he was initially in the country on a student visa.

After joining UBS from Nottingham university, he was given a work permit, and subsequently secured permanent residence status. He worked at UBS until his arrest in 2011.

His permanent residence privileges were revoked as part of his prison sentence. He has never applied for British citizenship.