Former UBS trader who faces deportation detained in Glasgow after judicial review failure

Now after going to a Home Office reporting centre in Glasgow, Mr Adoboli was detained and is believed to be being transported to the Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre in Harmondsworth. Mr Adoboli had said before reporting that he was "stressed" fearing that he would be detained.

In a statement, representatives of Mr Adoboli, who lives in Livingston said he had been detained "despite being no risk to the public, having ample bail surities and promising to continue with the Home Office rigid reporting regime".

It went on: "We are devastated by this news and Kweku's legal team is working hard to break this legal dead lock. Please keep the faith and help us spread the message."

On Tuesday they are due to renew their application for a stay of removal to the Court of Appeal.

"Of course, detention and the opening of the deportation window are major setbacks in the campaign to keep Kweku Adoboli with his friends and family in the UK, his home for 26 years, rather than allow The Home Office to banish him to Ghana, a country where he has not lived since the age of four," said representatives of Mr Adoboli.

"Although he paid a heavy price for financial trading offences in 2012 with a seven year prison sentence, Kweku is now being punished a second time with a deportation order, unless he and his supporters can convince The Home Office and the Courts to give due consideration to the many compelling reasons why he should stay and continue to make a demonstrably valuable contribution to British society."

Mr Adoboli’s legal team in seeking a judicial review argued that after he served his sentence for banking fraud he had dedicated himself to public speaking and hosting workshops about improving probity in the finance sector.

But Judge Mark Ockelton rejected these arguments and said Mr Adoboli had been “talking up” his contribution to improving ethical behaviour in the business world.

He was born in Ghana but left when he was four and has lived in the UK since he was 12.

Adoboli, who was released from prison in 2015, had originally been taken to the Dungaval Immigration Removal Centre and there was an intention to deport him on or after September 10.

READ MORE: Former UBS trader who lost £1.4bn faces deportation from Scotland after judicial review failure

The 38-year-old, who describes himself as British, has since his release from jail given many talks to students, financial traders and others in the banking industry about how to operate ethically and avoid making the mistakes he made.

Immigration minister Caroline Nokes has said that all foreign nationals sentenced to more than four years' imprisonment are subject to automatic deportation, unless there are compelling reasons for them to remain.

Since he was detained on September 3, more than 74,000 people have signed a petition against Adoboli's deportation, with more than 130 members of the UK and Scottish parliaments signing a letter to Home Secretary Sajid Javid asking him to intervene.

He wrote to a Home Office case worker last week about his plight and said: “I fully accept that I am running out of options in my bid to stay in the UK, my home. If, when he meets them, the Home Secretary responds negatively to the MPs and MSPs campaigning on my behalf, and if the legal processes available to me to challenge my deportation are fully exhausted, then I will have no choice but to accept the deportation order.

"In such a scenario, I think you also know me well enough to understand that – just as I would never abscond - I would not wait for detention and a charter flight, but make an immediate journey to Ghana by my own determination.

"However - as yet - we are not at that stage. My legal team and me are making an application to the Court tomorrow. Hannah Bardell has not received a response from the Home Secretary concerning their proposed meeting.

"However, my lawyer, Jacqueline McKenzie, met briefly with Caroline Nokes  and she has agreed to meet with Ms Bardell – as soon as their diaries permit – most probably with a view to expediting the formal meeting with the Home Secretary.

"For me to agree to leave before these matters are concluded would be pre-emptive, as is the Home Office’s request for me to leave voluntarily before they run their course.

"If the Home Office chooses to detain me, in spite of the ongoing legal process and the not inconsiderable sureties supporting my bail – and my willingness to abide by the bail terms – it would not only be hugely disappointing, but fully unnecessary and a complete waste of public resources.

"While I cannot re-offend without a banking licence, my probation team has also confirmed that I represent no threat to the public as a very low risk of reoffending or harm. I have promised not to abscond and that I will travel to Ghana voluntarily if the aforementioned initiatives prove unsuccessful.

"In the light of these assurances and in support of my human right to fair treatment under the law, I would ask you to ensure that the timeframe is extended accordingly.”

Adoboli has appealed, asking the home secretary, Sajid Javid, not to deport him because of his longstanding ties with the UK and the fact that he is working hard to educate people to avoid making the same mistakes he made at UBS.

During his trial at Southwark Crown Court in 2012, he had denied the charges, which related to the period between October 2008 and September 2011.

He argued at his trial nearly six years ago that managers at the bank pushed him to take too many risks. While he admitted causing the loss, he said it wasn’t done dishonestly.

But the jury was told he lost the money in "unprotected, unhedged, incautious and reckless" trades.

The judge, Mr Justice Keith, had told him when he was sentenced: "Whatever the verdict of the jury, you would forever have been known as the man responsible for the largest trading loss in British banking history."

Adoboli was expected to be put on a charter flight in September, but a judge awarded a last-minute reprieve while he reviewed the case.