Adoboli trial enters final stage as judge warns against biases
THE judge in the trial of alleged UBS rogue trader Kweku Adoboli told the jury yesterday not to let their views about the banking industry influence their judgment, as the long running trial enters its final stage.
Adoboli, 32, has been blamed for a loss of $2.3bn (£1.4bn) at the Swiss bank in September 2011. He denies two counts of fraud by abuse of position and four of false accounting.
“You don’t need me to tell you that this case has been no ordinary trial,” Justice Brian Keith told the jury as he began his summing-up, the final leg of the long-running trial before they retire to consider their verdict.
“Don’t let what some of you may think about banks and the people who work for them influence you unduly,” Keith told the jury.
“There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about the bonus culture, failing banks having to be bailed out,” he said, adding that there were always two sides to every argument. “You should not approach the case on the basis that banks have only themselves to blame,” he added. The judge will continue his summing-up today.