THE FORMER UK boss of private equity firm JC Flowers, who was yesterday handed a £2.87m fine by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), narrowly escaped a criminal trial, City A.M. has learnt.
Sources in the City of London Police said “the force was very keen to take this on” but that JC Flowers appeared reluctant to press for a criminal prosecution.
If Ravi Sinha (pictured) had been found guilty of fraud in a criminal court then he would have faced a jail sentence of at least three years, according to Tony Woodcock of the law firm Stephenson Harwood.
Sinha was in charge of European operations at the private equity fund, leading bids for Northern Rock and Friends Provident before his scam was discovered in October 2009.
Despite a salary of $1.2m (£760,000) his personal investments had turned sour and – unable to meet debt repayments – Sinha convinced a client to pay advisory fees worth £1.37m directly to his personal account.
JC Flowers reported its suspicion to the FSA, which conducted an investigation and passed its evidence to the City of London Police. No criminal charges were brought.
A spokesman for JC Flowers confirmed the firm had been “asked by City of London Police whether they would be requesting a criminal investigation” and had declined.
He said it was not the place of private companies to decide who should be prosecuted but “if an investigation was opened then JC Flowers would co-operate”.
