At last, Leeson's boss is rapped

One of the key figures in the collapse of Barings Bank has been censured by a regulatory body, nearly seven years after the bank's failure.

Simon Jones, a boss of Nick Leeson, the rogue trader who caused the bank's collapse in 1995, has been severely reprimanded for his role in the scandal. A tribunal of the Accountants' Joint Disciplinary Scheme (JDS), the watchdog of chartered accountants, ordered him to pay £5,000 costs.

Mr Leeson made unauthorised trades on the Singapore futures market and concealed losses of more than £800m. Mr Jones was the finance director of Barings Futures Singapore (BFS), Mr Leeson's department, at the time.

"The tribunal has made it clear that, as a director of BFS, Mr Jones was ultimately responsible for reviewing and deciding upon the internal control system which was appropriate for BFS's business, and for the local management of the company," said the JDS in a statement. Directors of subsidiaries face "inescapable personal responsibilities," it added.

Mr Jones fared better than Andrew Tuckey, the former deputy chairman of Barings Group. The JDS struck him off the membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants for four years. Mr Leeson was jailed in Singapore for fraud, then suffered colon cancer. Mr Jones is now understood to be in Singapore and working as a solicitor. Attempts to contact him for comment were unsuccessful.

Barings is still in liquidation. Coopers & Lybrand, the auditor of Barings which is now part of accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, has settled a £1bn negligence claim by the liquidator of Barings for an undisclosed amount.