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The UK' Insolvency Service, a British government agency, has launched an investigation into the former directors of disgraced PR company Bell Pottinger, which collapsed last year following work it did for the Gupta family, according to the Financial Times.
In an article published on Sunday evening, the FT said it had seen letters written by the agency to former partners of the PR firm stating they are being investigated for possible breaches of duties or other misconduct related to the Guptas' Oakbay account.
Bell Pottinger filed for administration in late September 2017 after a flood of clients cancelled contracts in the wake of media revelations about the work it did on behalf of the Gupta family, which also caused it to be expelled form the UK's PR trade body.
A committee of the UK's Public Relations and Communications Association had ruled in early September 2017 that Bell Pottinger’s South African campaign was “by any reasonable standard of judgement likely to inflame racial discord in South Africa and appears to have done exactly that".
According to the FT, the insolvency body can disqualify directors for up to 15 years, and take them to court to "prevent them from sitting on the boards of charities, or working as lawyers or accountants".
The agency did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Fin24, but confirmed the the FT that it was investigating former Bell Pottinger partners.
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