And Finally... Bank goes easy on Aussie erotic pic prank worker

By James Shepherd on Feb 8, 10 02:41 PM in Funnies

AN AUSTRALIAN banker who leapt to worldwide prominence after being caught on television looking at erotic pictures of a woman while at work has been allowed to keep his job.

David Kiely looks at erotic pictures while his colleague gives a TV interview

David Kiely, who works for Macquarie Bank in Sydney, opened an email containing the images while his colleague Martin Lakos was giving a TV interview to Channel 7 News about interest rates.

The footage became a huge internet hit, getting more than a million hits on the video-sharing website YouTube.

During the news item, Mr Kiely turned around in surprise, leading to speculation he was the victim of a practical joke.

Fearing he may lose his job as a result of his actions, sympathisers set up a Facebook group, called 'Save Dave', to campaign on Mr Kiely's behalf. He even drew support from Miranda Kerr, the model he was looking at, who said: "I am told there is a petition to save his job, and of course I will sign it."

However, Mr Kiely's supporters can breathe easy after Macquarie issued a statement which read: "He will remain an employee of Macquarie. Macquarie and the employee apologise for any offence caused."

As a result of the incident, Ms Kerr, who models for Victoria's Secret and is engaged to actor Orlando Bloom, has had a surge of interest - Google searches for her name have doubled since the story broke.