Greensill at risk of ban from running British businesses

AN AUSTRALIAN businessman who once worked with David Cameron is at risk of disqualification as a director after the Government launched proceedings to strike him off.

Lex Greensill is facing action from the Insolvency Service on behalf of Kemi Badenoch, the Business Secretary, who is seeking to bar him from running British companies for 15 years.

Although details have not yet been made public, the Insolvency Service confirmed the proceedings were “in respect of his conduct as a director of Greensill Capital”. A spokesman for Mr Greensill said he will fight the action.

Greensill Capital, which was at one point valued at $3.5bn (£2.75bn), raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors including Japan’s Softbank.

The specialist lender allowed businesses to pay their invoices early, effectively loaning them money. Its loans were then packaged up and sold to investors.

However, as the pandemic hit, the companies began defaulting on their loans. One of Greensill’s key insurers failed to renew its cover and it was unable to repay a loan of $140m (£109m) to Credit Suisse.

Greensill’s collapse triggered a lobbying scandal after it emerged that Lord

Cameron, now Foreign Secretary, had pushed for the business to gain access to the Covid-19 loans scheme. The former prime minister had an unpaid role at Greensill and share options in the business. He was found by the Treasury select committee not to have broken any rules. The Department for Business and Trade declined to comment.

A spokesman for the Insolvency Service said: “We can confirm that the

Insolvency Service has commenced director disqualification proceedings against Alexander (Lex) Greensill.”

The filing comes days after Mr Greensill sued the Government over alleged misuse of his private information.

A spokesman for Mr Greensill said: “Lex Greensill recently issued proceedings ... in the High Court as a result of the Insolvency Service’s conduct during the investigation that led to this action.

“Mr Greensill rejects this action as wholly without merit and will robustly address it.”

£2.75bn The value of Greensill Capital before the company was hit by the pandemic and began defaulting on its loans