Leicestershire Police officer barred for lying about cryptocurrency

A police officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct for failing to disclose his cryptocurrency investments.

Osama Hussain concealed financial transactions during the vetting process when he joined Leicestershire Police, a misconduct panel heard.

He continued to hide his financial interests and was "fundamentally dishonest", the panel found.

He was barred from serving as a police officer.

Chief Constable Rob Nixon, who oversaw proceedings, said Mr Hussain would have been sacked if he had not already quit.

Leicestershire Police said it required officers to make financial disclosures to check they were not liable to financial inducements.

Mr Hussain, who joined the force in November 2022, had his investments discovered when his bank account was blocked and he asked for his salary to be paid into another.

The hearing was told he dishonestly claimed he was an "inexperienced" investor and was only investing £150 at a time.

However, it later came to light thousands of pounds had been transferred between his account and another belonging to someone identified as Person A.

Mr Hussain told the force's vetting team he "was not close" to Person A, a claim the force later found to be false.

Mr Nixon concluded Mr Hussain would have known his crypto trading with Person A would have undermined his application to join the police.

He said: "Once that initial declaration has been made he has not sought to rectify the untruth.

"On the balance of probability, he has maintained the lie in order to cover up his previous activity and relationship with Person A."

Mr Nixon acknowledged Mr Hussain had expressed remorse for not revealing the details during the vetting process.

However, he said: "His conduct was fundamentally dishonest, demonstrated a serious lack of integrity, was continued, and would seriously undermine public confidence in policing."

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