Ousted CEO Bharat Thakrar Threatens Ksh4.3 B Lawsuit Against Company He Founded

Business mogul Bharat Thakrar who founded SCANAD in 1982 and later set up WPP Scangroup Plc has threatened to file a Ksh4.3 billion lawsuit against the company's United Kingdom (UK)-based parent WPP.

Reports by a section of UK-based media indicate that Thakrar is accusing the parent firm of "neo-colonialist practices and discriminatory tactics" which he claims had led to his ejection from the company he founded.

Thakrar was suspended and ousted from the company in 2021 after allegations of financial misconduct but was later cleared after investigations failed to find incriminating evidence.

The reports had revealed that Thakrar alleged that WPP discriminated against him and Scangroup’s finance chief Satya Das through a clear target at business executives who were of Indian extraction, an action that went against Kenyan laws that prohibit any kind of segregation.

Former WPP Scangroup CEO Bharat Thakrar. /NATION MEDIA GROUP

His lawyers further accused the UK parent advertising agency of leaking details of an internal investigation into alleged financial and personal misconduct to Kenyan media, thus inflicting reputational damage upon him.

The lawyers also claimed that WPP had protected a British national high-ranking Scangroup executive who was also involved in the charges levelled against Thakrar when he was ousted. The Briton was instead promoted to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in one of WPP's largest firms.

Thakrar's legal team is preparing for a legal showdown and is anticipated to file proceedings seeking substantial damages, estimated at around £24 million (Ksh4.3 billion).

WPP denied any wrongdoing in response to the allegations.

Thakrar set up the business that grew into Scangroup in 1982, which he later took public on August 29, 2006, in an initial public offering that was six times oversubscribed.

He was the top shareholder at the time with a 28.53 per cent stake. His holdings were at one time valued at more than Ksh1 billion.

The turning point was when UK-based conglomerate WPP invested in the business with a 23 per cent holding in 2009 before acquiring a controlling stake in 2013.

In February 2021, Thakrar became the first chief executive of a Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE)-listed company to be suspended publicly for ethical misconduct, after Scangroup’s publication of 2020 results was delayed by four months, prompting an external auditor to sound alarm of possible alteration of financial books.

When Scangroup finally published its financial report in September of the same year, the founder was exonerated as there was no incriminating evidence of the firm's profits being affected, but by then, Thakrar and his co-accused Das had resigned from the company awaiting results of the probe from outside.

Currently, WPP owns 56 percent of the business while Thakrar retains a 10.5 percent stake. However, according to UK media, the ex-CEO continues to lament that WPP manipulated itself into a position to control the Scangroup board before making allegations against him in an attempt to force his eventual resignation.

Former WPP Scangroup CEO Bharat Thakrar. /FILE