Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund settled a bonus dispute with ex-managers at its London office that spawned several lawsuits and an attempted intervention by the UK government.
(Bloomberg) — Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund settled a bonus dispute with ex-managers at its London office that spawned several lawsuits and an attempted intervention by the UK government.
The Kuwait Investment Authority was embroiled in a messy legal battle after Simon Hard, the ex-head of fixed income at London’s Kuwait Investment Office sued the fund at a UK employment tribunal for whistle blowing and age discrimination. The suit was scheduled to start Tuesday.
KIA retaliated by filing a High Court suit accusing Hard of blowing the fund’s budget by raising salaries and bonuses while a senior executive was on vacation. The fund was then asked to hand over “sensitive” documents in the employment case, with the UK’s Foreign Office getting dragged in to clarify whether some employees had diplomatic protection.
Two other ex-KIO employees, Prashant Vithlani, the former head of equity and Caroline Taylor, the ex-head of human resources, also sued the fund.
A court official confirmed that all three cases were withdrawn, although details of the settlement were not made public.
The world’s oldest and one of the largest sovereign wealth fund ousted the head of its London arm, Saleh Al-Ateeqi, in July in a rare move.
Hard declined to respond to a request for comment. Taylor and Vithlani didn’t immediately respond to a LinkedIn message requesting a comment.
Kuwait Investment Authority officials couldn’t be reached for comment.
–With assistance from Fiona MacDonald.
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