Bharat Thakrar, entrepreneur and former chief executive officer of WPP Scangroup might have suffered a setback recently, but he is definitely not out.
“I don’t agree with the decision of the commercial court and hence will be filing an appeal within the 14-day statutory period,” he said in a statement.
The renowned entrepreneur and founder of East Africa’s largest integrated marketing communications company suffered a setback when the High Court ruled that his case against Scangroup and its parent British parent WPP Plc, should have been filed before the Employment and Labour Relations court.
The High Court was of the view that the matter revolved around employer-employee dispute.
The father of two founded Scanad Marketing Ltd in 1982 and grew it into a major advertising agency in East Africa.
The firm later restructured and renamed Scanad Plc and in 2006 it changed into WPP Scangroup Plc. It was then listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and Mr Thakrar was employed as the chief executive officer starting October 2005.
Mr Thakrar, who still owns a 10.49 percent stake in WPP Scangroup, sued the advertising multinational while accusing the UK-based advertising agency of loss of a significant business opportunity, to generate revenue through his children’s company where he served as a consultant.
He sued the firm’s UK-based parent WPP Plc, its subsidiary WPP Scangroup, and all its directors, accusing them of reputational loss, emotional and mental damage linked to the events that followed his suspension from the company he founded.
He was seeking more than half a billion shillings in Kenya, plus loss of potential earnings had he still been CEO of Scangroup, and reputational damage, which, according to UK media, could be in the range of £24 million (Sh4.2 billion), if the claim succeeded.
Mr Thakrar was suspended from the company on February 18, 2021 after allegations emerged that he was engaging in conduct contrary to the firm’s policies and procedures, its Code of Business Conduct and Board Charter. On March 23, 2021, he resigned.
Last year, he scored a win against the British multinational and its subsidiary after the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC), ordered the conglomerate to pay him Sh1.95 million over the handling of his personal data.
Mr Thakrar had complained of multiple breaches of privacy and data protection rights, alleging that his data was unlawfully accessed and processed without legitimate basis or his consent.
He complained that WPP, the largest shareholder of Scangroup, played a significant role in the governance and decision making.
He alleged that a third party accessed his laptop and other personal data, both physically and as a backed up cloud and compiled a report based on their investigations.
The report was later shared with Capital Markets Authority, WPP and Scangroup.
He accused the parent firm of failing to implement adequate safeguards and controls over its subsidiary’s data processing activities, leading to the breach.
The British multinational denied the claims stating that sometimes in 2020, serious allegations were leveled against him of engaging in behaviour and practices amounting to gross misconduct, contrary to the terms of Scandgroup’s policies and procedures.
The firm said the allegations were made through whistle-blower reports of employees and former employees of Scangroup using the ‘Right to speak line’. The allegations were shared with Scangroup’s board of directors.
He was suspended in February 2021 to pave the way for investigations and Scangroup, through Control Risks Group, commissioned a comprehensive investigation into the allegations.
The company said Mr Thakrar was later served with a notice to show cause and in a dramatic twist, he handed in his resignation on March 23, 2021.
The British firm said there was no malice or conspiracy in the actions that led to his resignation.
Although the Data Protection Commissioner Immaculate Kassait noted that the sharing of his personal data between Scangroup, CRG and Coulson Harney was lawful, the firm failed to comply with the principle of data minimization in processing of the complainant’s private WhatsApp messages.
“In conclusion, the respondents have failed to demonstrate that the processing of the complainant’s personal data during investigations complied with data protection principles relating to lawful processing and minimization of collection,” Ms Kassait said.
When he was cleared, Mr Thakrar recalled in an interview with the Business Daily that the six months, during which the investigations were being undertaken, were painful for him and his family.
He also felt betrayed saying the people who met to plot his removal were people he nominated to the company’s board and occasionally invited into his home.
“I am happy that I have finally been vindicated of any wrong-doing. However, the way the board chose to handle this matter is very unfortunate, especially considering that I was not just an employee but the founder and a major shareholder,” he said.
In the court documents, the former CEO accused the parent firm and its subsidiary of racial bias and neo-colonialist practices, inducement, breach of contract and duties, and malice.
He sought to be compensated for damages for reputational, emotional and mental loss and damage, an injunction to restrain the firms from continued publication, or any further publication of ‘defamatory expressions and injurious falsehoods and an order requiring them to make an unqualified retraction of the allegations’ against him.
In response, Scangroup further argued that the claims for injury of reputation were time barred.
