‘PIMPED OUT BY BOSS’ Married banker, 36, ‘pimped out’ to wealthy Arab client in bid to land £25m account and ‘threatened with the sack if she didn’t go for dinner date’
The woman claimed the client bombarded her with love songs and inappropriate text messages
A MARRIED senior banker was “pimped out” by her boss in a bid to get a wealthy Arab client to open an account with £25 million, a tribunal was told.
Suemaya Gerrard, 36, a relationship manager at the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, claimed the client bombarded her with love songs and inappropriate text messages.
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But her boss, chief administrative officer Jawdat Jawdat put pressure on her to go out to dinner with the man and she was threatened with the sack if she did not go, the hearing was told.
She confided in a colleague, who told her “he is acting like your pimp”, it is claimed.
After a failed attempt to lodge a grievance against her boss, she eventually resigned from the bank last November, and is suing them for sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and constructive dismissal.
Mrs Gerrard is seeking £80,000 from the bank, whose offices are based at the Candy brothers’ One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, west London.
In her witness statement, she said: “This gentleman made it clear that he was attracted to me.
“‘Client A’ made use of my telephone to send me love songs and use terms of endearment that I found inappropriate.”
She said she told her line manager, Kassel Jarrah, Mr Jawdat and other senior staff about the client’s behaviour.
Mrs Gerrard continued: “Although I was not completely happy with the situation, I believed that if I maintained a professional attitude and refused to countenance any crossing of the line in respect of ‘Client A’s’ behaviour, I would be able to continue as the relationship manager.”
However she said matters came to a head on May 17 last year, when she was told by Mr Jawdat to invite the client to an England international match at Wembley Stadium.
She said: “To my mind the sub-text was quite clear. Mr Jawdat was aware of ‘Client A’s’ partiality for me and wished to use that to further the business connection.
“‘Client A’ was not immediately available, but he rang me later and said that he was not interested in football but was interested still in taking me out to dinner.
“There was no business reason for such a dinner that was to be held late in the evening.
“I declined the offer politely but ‘Client A’ kept on insisting to invite me out for dinner.”
Mrs Gerrard suggested to the client going for lunch with her and Mr Jawdat, but he did not like the idea and said “I want to drop you home and have a present I want to give you”, it is claimed.
She said: “When I reported the conversation to Mr Jawdat he seemed annoyed.
“He told me that I had to accept the dinner invitation and not lunch and he also threatened me by saying ‘if you cancel or call off sick I will sack you’.
“I replied that he knew that I was a married woman with children and that I could not do it. Mr Jawdat then stated I was in the wrong profession.
“I informed my work colleague Mrs Shukri Hassan upon leaving the meeting of what had happened and how Mr Jawdat behaved.
“Mrs Shukri Hassan stated ‘he is acting like your pimp’.”
The customer arrived at the bank later that day for a coffee, and grasped and squeezed her hand, Mrs Gerrard said.
But rather than support her, Mr Jawdat went for a cigarette with the client’s colleague, leaving her alone with him as he mentioned dinner again, it is claimed.
After telling her husband about it, she contacted her union representative, Geoff Saunders, who advised her to raise a formal grievance against Mr Jawdat.
Central London Employment Tribunal heard the client wrote “your wish is my command”, and she replied with a smiley face – but she said she was just being “polite”.
The client also texted her saying “hello my rosy flower”, it was said.
After he visited on May 17, she texted the customer saying “I was happy for your visit, you lit us up”.
But Mrs Gerrard said: “This is a very professional way of thanking somebody for coming to visit you.
“That is basic manners in Arabic.”
She added: “Some of the text messages I deleted because my husband saw them, and said ‘what is this’.
“And therefore I deleted some of the love songs. Because it was my marriage on the line.
“He was up at 3 o’clock in the morning and he saw flowers and love songs. It caused a huge row.”
The bank and Mr Jawdat deny all the allegations.
Talia Barsam, representing the bank, claimed that Mrs Gerrard had threatened to go the press if she didn’t receive a pay off.
Mr Jawdat claimed that it was normal practice to entertain clients.
He said: “Regardless of gender, regardless of customer, we always interact with customers and we always dine with customer. That it, that’s exactly what happened that day.”
The hearing continues.
source : https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3477602/married-banker-pimped-out-wealthy-arab-client/
