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City analyst seeks £7m in racism case
By Elizabeth Hopkirk, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 18.03.04An Asian analyst is claiming £7 million from a leading City finance house after he was humiliated and hounded out of his job by racist bosses, a tribunal heard today.
Equity research analyst Fadil Dookhy claims his bonuses were 20 times lower than those paid to white colleagues at AIG Global Investment Corporation's London office, despite the fact he was his team's star performer.
Mauritius-born Mr Dookhy, 25, claims he suffered frequent racist jibes from his boss Chantal Brennan, who allegedly used to call him "Dodgy Dookhy" and the "Dodgy Mauritian" in front of other staff. He told the central London employment tribunal that Ms Brennan, who is Irish, ridiculed his Muslim faith, talked to him about "Paki shopkeepers" and referred to another Asian colleague as "Taliban".
He claims that Ms Brennan covered up illegal insider dealing by a senior broker at leading Irish investment firm Davy Stockbrokers because he was an old friend of hers.
Ms Brennan and the broker, Patrick Dempsey, later concocted a false allegation of misconduct against him, the tribunal heard. Ms Brennan persuaded AIG to fire Mr Dookhy from his £70,000-ayearjob despite opposition from human resources chiefs. He was replaced by a blonde Swedish woman recruited to "entertain clients", even though she was not qualified to do his job.
Mr Dookhy said that AIG - the world's biggest financial services firm, managing £250billion of assets - was "institutionally racist". He claimed after his sacking in July last year it would be impossible for him to get a comparable City job. Mr Dookhy said: "By dismissing me for gross misconduct, AIG has denied me the opportunity to be able to make money very quickly and easily.
"Having actually made it to the City, my City
career ends early at the age of 25 because of racism. I estimate my future loss of income to be around £7million, using conservative assumptions. AIG is fully responsible for these losses."
He claimed Ms Brennan changed the rules to reduce his bonus and he received an " insultingly low" £2,500. He said: "If they want you to leave, they pay you an artificially low bonus."
When he demanded an explanation, Ms Brennan allegedly said that two colleagues, one Asian and the other Nigerian, had received even lower amounts.
Mr Dookhy, from Tottenham, a financial economics graduate with a masters in finance who joined AIG in July 2002, is claiming racial discrimination and unfair dismissal against AIG and racial discrimination against Ms Brennan. AIG and Ms Brennan deny the claims. The case continues.
