Axis MF’s sacked fund manager moves Bombay High Court

Veeresh Joshi, former fund manager and chief trader of Axis Mutual Fund, moved the Bombay High Court against the fund house for terminating his employment without following due process and claiming a loss of ₹54 crore.

front-running charge

The lawsuit challenges the asset management company’s move to ‘wrongfully terminate’ Joshi’s employment in connection with a suspected front-running case.

The matter came to the fore last month when the fund house sacked fund manager and chief dealer Viresh Joshi and fund manager Deepak Agarwal from some of its equity schemes before sacking them.

Axis AMC had said that it was organizing a his speed Internal investigation since February, using reputable external consultants to assist with investigation. Veeresh Joshi’s job was terminated from May 18 ahead of investigation.

Joshi’s legal notice

After this Joshi sent a legal notice to the fund house.

In his suit, Joshi stated that contrary to Axis AMC’s claim of having received a tip-off from an outside source that was alerting it to alleged front-running activity, it was he who first persuaded his superiors to invest in shares. increased activity was reported. Trading on behalf of the fund house last June.

case timeline

The lawsuit states that between November 2021 and January 2022, trading activity in the shares settled by him on behalf of the fund house intensified and the fund house initiated an investigation.

Axis Mutual Fund had reported average assets under manager of ₹2.60 lakh crore as of March quarter.

Joshi has over 20 years of experience in capital markets and was working with Axis AMC since 2009. Prior to this, he worked at BNP Paribas Securities and ICICI Securities.

Late last month, markets regulator SEBI cracked down on stock brokers who were allegedly linked to the front-running case of Axis Mutual Fund and raided 16 brokers across 30 locations in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Published on

23 June 2022