London, July 8 (IANS) Jagmeet Channa, a British Indian bank clerk, has been sent to prison for nine years for trying to defraud HSBC of about 70 million pounds ($140 million). Channa used to plunder accounts using identities of colleagues at the bank’s headquarters in Canary Wharf in London, where he was employed.

Channa admitted to fraud and a charge of money laundering. He was caught early May within minutes of sending about 70 million pounds to two accounts. The stolen money has since been returned.

The fraud was detected by HSBC staff in Malaysia after he left one of the two accounts with a zero balance. Channa had used the passwords of two of his colleagues who were later questioned by the police and released after they were found innocent.

After Channa’s sentencing Monday, Detective Sergeant Martin Peters told BBC: “This crime is believed to be one of the largest frauds of its kind and it is thanks to the prompt response of the police and the banks that the money was recovered.”