The chairman of pest control group Rentokil’s remuneration committee has stepped down after it emerged that he played an instrumental role in a scandal that drove one of London’s best known public relations firms into administration earlier this month.
In a short statement on Monday, Rentokil said that Chris Geoghegan had decided to step down as a non-executive director with immediate effect, including from his role as chairman of the remuneration committee and as senior independent director. The group did not cite a reason for the decision.
Last week The Times reported that Mr Geoghegan had received tens of thousands of pounds for introducing South Africa’s wealthy Gupta family to PR firm Bell Pottinger early last year.
Bell Pottinger subsequently fostered a year-long relationship with Oakbay, a company controlled by the Guptas, and was accused of running a racially-charged campaign on the controversial family’s behalf. The Guptas have widely been accused of exerting undue influence over South African president Jacob Zuma.
The UK’s Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) launched an investigation into Bell Pottinger after South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), blamed the PR company of working to “divide and conquer the South African public by exploiting racial tensions in a bid to keep Jacob Zuma and the ANC in power”.
Bell Pottinger left the Oakbay account in April this year, and in July the group said that it had fired several staff – including Mr Geoghegan’s daughter Victoria, who had been running the Gupta account.
The scandal sparked industry outrage, lead to an exodus of clients from Bell Pottinger and prompted the industry trade body to strip the firm of membership. Bell Pottinger’s chief executive officer, James Henderson, resigned earlier this month and last week the company collapsed into administration.
According to The Times, Mr Geoghean, who worked at BAE Systems before joining Rentokil, received more than £100,000 overall for brokering the account with the Guptas.