The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed Invesco Asset Management (India) and the whistleblower, who alleged malpractices at the firm, to settle the matter amicably out of court.
The case pertains to the latter’s wrongful termination for “gross misconduct” by the asset manager. The suit says the sacking was the result of the complaint filed against the asset manager with the Securities Exchange Commission and other regulators, and not for any misconduct.
The whistleblower worked as a fund manager with Invesco and was sacked a few days after his complaint pertaining to irregularities in the management of fixed income schemes.
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The whistleblower’s counsel said that there is a need for his party to be given a “clean” separation without any allegation of misconduct, which would impact the chances of finding suitable employment in future. The counsel for the asset manager argued against any ad-interim relief being granted, given that the termination had happened some time back and the suit was a claim for compensation for wrongful termination.
Globally, Invesco has put in place a whistleblower policy that encourages complaints regarding violation of its code of conduct, violations of laws, questionable accounting matters, internal accounting controls, auditing matters, breaches of fiduciary duty or rules at Invesco to be reported via a toll free number or a separate whistleblower hotline website.
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The asset manager was represented by senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas, while Naushad Engineer and Venkatesh Dhond represented the whistleblower. The next hearing will be in January.
