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Silver
linings
Lop-sided
trade dealwith the US
could be a
good thingRoger Bootle
Could go
either way
Hyperloop:
Elon Musk’spipe dream
or actually
the futureof travel
Page 30 Page 30 Page 28 Page 31Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri252502550025750260002650026250Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri70007100720073007400Get the latest markets info, share prices and create a portfolio at telegraph.co.uk/markets-hub
SFO investigator claims unfair dismissal over pub swearing at FBI agent
By Laura Onita
THE Serious Fraud Office (SFO) faces a
claim for unfair dismissal from the
former lead investigator on one of its
biggest inquiries, amid allegations of
“gross misconduct” in a pub.
Tom Martin was sacked in December
after he was accused of swearing at an
FBI agent in 2016 at the US embassy and
a pub. He had been senior case controller
in charge of the investigation of Monaco-
based consultancy Unaoil over bribery
allegations. Mr Martin is now taking the
SFO to court over his dismissal, The
Financial Times first reported.
According to the claim, filed in May,
his departure was related to an outing
with officials from the US Department
of Justice in 2016. It is alleged Mr Martinused expletives and called a member of
the FBI a spy and/or “quisling”.
Mr Martin claims that his behaviour
“was not such as would justify the
termination of his employment” and his
sacking was unfair and unreasonable
as the claims were discharged in an
internal probe. He was later accused of
misrepresenting the facts. “Strong
language was commonly used by crimi-nal lawyers and partner agencies and
that members of the Department of
Justice themselves used very robust
language: in essence it was part of the
culture,” he reportedly claims.
Mr Martin, who previously worked
for the Financial Reporting Council,
was in charge of the SFO’s three-year
probe into Unaoil until September
when he was replaced, according to thedocuments. He then was dismissed by
the SFO in December following an in-
ternal disciplinary hearing.
The case led to an investigation into
Unaoil and four individuals over pay-
ments made to secure a $733m (£574m)
pipeline construction project in Iraq.
The investigation was cancelled in
June and no charges were brought.
The SFO declined to comment.City broker
blames Aston
Martin crash
on EU rules
By Vinjeru MkandawireA “COLLAPSE” in the quality of City
analysis is partly to blame for the fail-
ure of blockbuster floats such as Aston
Martin and Funding Circle, according
to the boss of broker Peel Hunt.
Steven Fine, chief executive, said the
disastrous stock market performance
of both companies since their debuts
was linked to a cull of sell-side equity
research teams by big banks in the
wake of the introduction of the EU fi-
nancial services rule book Mifid II.
“The quality of research is collapsing
because banks are putting too much
work on too few people,” Mr Fine told
The Daily Telegraph.
He claimed it means new companies
are less able to “navigate their way
through the regulatory minefield of be-
ing a public company, in order to tell
your story, put them into proper con-
text and set the scene in a competitive
landscape”.
“Take Aston Martin and Funding
Circle. The fact that some of these deals
have gone wayward reflects the big
banks’ inability to support the second-
ary market,” he said.
“There are few specialists left at the
banks, just undertrained and less mar-
ket-savvy juniors covering too many
companies.”
Aston Martin and Funding Circle
have each lost about three quarters
their value since their floats, resulting
in investor losses worth billions and
claims that investment banks overval-
ued them before their floats.
Mifid II, which started up in 2018, ef-
fectively banned banks from giving
away research to clients for free, bun-
dled with other services.
The change ended the long-standing
use of analysis as a “loss leader” to en-
courage trading and cement client rela-
tionships.
Meanwhile, big fund managers have
cut their budgets for paid equity re-
search after Mifid II prompted them to
account for it separately.Feature: Page 30REBECCA NADEN/PA ARCHIVEStruggling
‘Boris bus’
maker seeks
Chinese cash
By Oliver Gill
THE Chinese auto giant BYD is explor-
ing a rescue of the troubled “Boris bus”
maker Wrightbus, as the Government
comes under pressure from the DUP to
save jobs in Northern Ireland.
Around 1,400 roles are on the line as
the 73-year-old company races to se-
cure either a new owner or fresh fund-
ing. Parent company Wrights Group,
one of Northern Ireland’s biggest ex-
porters, hired Deloitte last month to
find new funding after a cash flow
squeeze cast doubt on its future.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal that
BYD, whose vast global operations in-
clude providing bus batteries to
Wrightbus rival Alexander Dennis, has
since been approached about a poten-
tial rescue deal.
The Chinese giant, which is part-
owned by Warren Buffett’s investment
firm in a bet on the electrification of
transport, last night paid tribute to
“iconic” Wrightbus and said that it was
monitoring investment opportunities.
The fate of Wrightbus could prove
crucial in Westminster, where the DUP
has been holding talks with the Gov-
ernment about a new “confidence and
supply” deal to underpin Boris John-
son’s shaky majority of only two. In the
Commons last month the Prime Minis-
ter pledged to do “everything we can”
to save Wrightbus, which is based in
the DUP stronghold of Ballymena.
The company is also personally asso-
ciated with Mr Johnson, as the manu-
facturer of London’s so-called Boris
bus, an update to the classic Routemas-
ter agreed when he was mayor of the
capital. Wrightbus built 1,000 of the
vehicles between 2012 and 2017, when
new mayor Sadiq Khan halted orders in
favour of rival models he said were
cheaper and greener.
In its latest filed accounts, for 2017,
pre-tax profit at Wrightbus’s parent
company plunged 85pc to £1.5m. Its
financial situation is since said to have
deteriorated with annual losses hitting
£15m. In February and July this year
almost 100 staff were made redundant
and the company is reportedly in need
of a £30m cash injection.
Shenzhen-based BYD already makes
vehicles under its own brand and pro-
vides batteries for heavy good vehicles
such as lorries, fork-lift trucks and
buses. It has a joint venture with Daim-
ler to make luxury electric cars and has
a contract with one of Wright’s biggest
bus making rivals, Alexander Dennis,
to build electric London buses.
Wrightbus makes electric buses in
conjunction with French battery com-
pany Foresee. A spokesman for Foresee
said it is not planning to buy the North-
ern Ireland busmaker.
BYD Europe managing director Is-
brand Ho said: “Wrightbus is an iconic
company in Northern Ireland and the
UK with talented and skilled people.
“We have also been working
closely with the UK Government in
helping to fulfil its zero emission ambi-
tions, a process that started several
years ago when Boris Johnson, now
the UK Prime Minister, was the mayor
of London.
“We will continue to monitor all op-
portunities in the UK.”
Wrights Group and Deloitte declined
to comment.Northern Ireland-based
Wrightbus sends out SOS
call as it hunts for new
owner or £30m injection
As London mayor, Boris Johnson employed Wrightbus to update the Routemaster. The PM pledged to do ‘everything we can’ to save jobsThe Daily Telegraph Monday 19 August 2019 *** 27
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