A top London banker accused of racist bullying his Lebanese-born colleague

A city banker branded wealthy Middle Eastern clients ‘camel f******’, the French ‘rats’ and called a Lebanon-born colleague a terrorist, a tribunal was told.

Anthony Dullaghan is accused of saying his co-worker Maurice Marco was ‘great at flying into towers’ after hearing he was training to be a pilot.

The former Merrill Lynch managing director then asked Mr Marco if he could fit the ‘required explosives’ in his suitcase, it is alleged.

When the pair had a row, Mr Marco was said to have aggressively stripped off his shirt as they stood chest to chest.

The claims emerged at an employment tribunal in London this week. Mr Marco, who is on long-term sick leave from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, claims he endured at least seven years of racist bullying that left him anxious and suicidal.

The trader says there was a ‘culture of fear’ at the bank – and is fighting for at least £400,000 in compensation.

At the centre of the case is the behaviour of Mr Dullaghan, former head of the bank’s Euro Commercial Paper team, dealing with unsecured short-term loans.

Mr Marco, who is of Lebanese origin but was brought up in France, accuses his boss of relentless bullying and heckling.

Mr Dullaghan allegedly passed on phone calls from Arab clients using a derogatory accent and saying: ‘You have a camel f***** on the holding line.’ Mr Marco told the hearing: ‘I do not recall specific dates to these incidents but they were not isolated.’

The claimant said that when he started flying lessons around seven years ago his boss began referring to him as a terrorist.

In a statement, Mr Marco said: ‘In an attempt to mock and humiliate me in front of colleagues … he suggested that because of my Lebanese background I was a terrorist who had learnt to fly in order to carry out a suicide bombing using an aircraft akin to the 9/11 attacks …I was due to take a flight to Florida. He asked me how I could fit my belongings with the required explosives in such a small suitcase.’

At a business lunch in 2011, Mr Dullaghan ‘insisted on highlighting my credentials as a trained pilot,’ Mr Marco said. ‘He said that I was particularly bad at landings and great at flying into towers.’

The claimant said that when he moved house, his boss asked if the area was shut down because ‘usually when highly explosive materials are transported, police cordoned off the neighbourhood’.

In a statement, Mr Marco said: ‘In an attempt to mock and humiliate me in front of colleagues … he suggested that because of my Lebanese background I was a terrorist who had learnt to fly in order to carry out a suicide bombing using an aircraft akin to the 9/11 attacks …I was due to take a flight to Florida. He asked me how I could fit my belongings with the required explosives in such a small suitcase.’

At a business lunch in 2011, Mr Dullaghan ‘insisted on highlighting my credentials as a trained pilot,’ Mr Marco said. ‘He said that I was particularly bad at landings and great at flying into towers.’

The claimant said that when he moved house, his boss asked if the area was shut down because ‘usually when highly explosive materials are transported, police cordoned off the neighbourhood’.

Daily Mail