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Zopa removes arrested Indian tycoon Kapil Wadhawan from its board
Wadhawan resigned on 6 February following his arrest by Indian authorities.
The chairman of Wadhawan Global Capital has stepped down from the board of alternative lending pioneer Zopa, just weeks after his arrest and amid a growing financial scandal in India.
According to Companies House Kapil Wadhawan stepped down as a Director of Zopa on 6 February, however this decision may have been filed earlier but have taken a while to appear online.
The news, first reported by Financial News, comes after the Wadhawan Global Capital chairman was arrested in India at the end of January.
Only weeks ago Kapil was still being described on Zopa’s group board page as a director who had “transformed people's lives across the length and breadth of India” via his leadership of Wadhawan Global Capital.
His arrest by India’s Enforcement Directorate, responsible for policing the country’s financial crime, was concerning suspected money laundering and with local media reporting of the alleged financial crimes having a terrorism connection.
Wadhawan Global Capital’s involvement with Zopa started in 2017 when Kapil, also the leader of several of India’s largest property finance groups, established a UK subsidiary to make some strategic investments.
“The objective of Zopa is in line with Wadhawan Global Capital’s objective of changing the lives of customers by offering them credit, savings and insurance products,” Kapil said at the time when his group co-led Zopa’s £32m Series F.
Wadhawan Global Capital’s other UK investments include in travel card lender CommuterClub and mortgage finance group Neyber.
The UK holding company also saw the resignation of Deloitte as its auditor in August 2019 citing uncertainty surrounding the allegations being made in India.
A Zopa spokesperson told AltFi: "As part of the planned investment by IAG, we are reorganising our board. As part of this process, WGC have agreed to give up their board seat in Zopa post the completion of the deal, and Kapil Wadhawan has resigned from the Zopa Group Board with immediate effect."
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