Originally South Africa @4 >>13295320
“Masterminds behind Bell Pottinger's Gupta PR campaign lose bid to block legal action”- https://www.news24.com/fin24/economy/masterminds-behind-bell-pottingers-gupta-pr-campaign-lose-bid-to-block-legal-action-20210324. Below are a few excerpts.
Victoria Geoghegan and Nick Lambert, the former Bell Pottinger executives who became the public faces of the British PR company’s disastrous campaign for the Gupta family in SA, have lost an application to strike out disqualification proceedings against them in the UK.
This means that the case against Geoghegan and Lambert will proceed to trial, where a judge will hear evidence about whether they should be disqualified from acting as directors of companies for between two and 15 years.
Geoghegan and Lambert both worked on Bell Pottinger’s PR campaign for Gupta-owned Oakybay Investments, which was conceived to shield the Gupta family and their allies from criticism by claiming that allegations of corruptions were part of a racist plot to undermine economic transformation.
But after emails between the PR firm and the Gupta family were leaked as part of the #GuptaLeaks, the PR mavens faced a barrage of criticism.
Geoghegan and Lambert, who now both work for London-based PR company Thoburns, had asked a UK court to rule that they were not directors of Bell Pottinger LLP (Limited Liability Partnership) at the time that they were working on the Oakbay account, they should not be facing a disqualification hearing as they were not responsible for the company’s management.
But in a ruling handed down on Tuesday, Justice Michael Green said that any member of an LLP is “potentially liable to face disqualification proceeding,” and members did not need to sit on board level.
The ruling means that the disqualification hearing can go ahead.