A Hendon high-flier was jailed for four years on Friday after stealing almost £1 million from a City bank.

Ameer Aka, 29, of Newark Way, conned Credit Suisse International out of £920,977 despite being tipped to become the youngest-ever director of the banking giant.

He used the money to buy property in Hendon and Colindale and sent hundreds of thousands of pounds to his family in Pakistan.

The judge, Mr Recorder Michael Sayers, QC, told Aka at the Old Bailey: "If we cannot rely on trust and integrity the whole system is undermined."

Aka, European head of products, messages and finance information administration, earned £110,000 a year. In charge of a £175m budget, it was his responsibility to hire temporay staff.

He created two bogus employees and a false firm called I-Tech for which they were supposed to work. He paid the fictitious salaries to I-Tech which was controlled by various members of his family, who then paid him back the money.

Aka's con was discovered when a review showed his estimate for the temporary staff budget to differ wildly from company figures.

When asked to provide paperwork to support his bookkeeping, he went into his boss's office in January 2003 to confess he had swindled the firm between July 2001 and October 2003.

Prosecutor Peter Holford said: "He gave no reason as to why he had committed the offences other than temptation."

Aka's barrister, Ben Summers, said he had used the money he stole to pay off his mortgage and buy property.

"He used £120,000 to pay off various family debts in Pakistan."

Mr Summers said: "Aka did not have the personal maturity to deal with the responsibility given to him.

The judge told Aka: "It is always regrettable to have to deal with a young person such as yourself who has already achieved notable early success in life, and with every prospect of a promising future."

Aka admitted one specimen charge of theft. The court was told he has paid back more than £600,000.