A former minister who is to work for a Bahraini investment company has been criticised after he did not declare 13 meetings with its single largest shareholder, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, when seeking permission to take the role.
Sir Gerry Grimstone, as he was then, was elevated to the peerage and handed a job in Boris Johnson’s government in March 2020, serving as minister of state for investment until July 2022.
His time in Whitehall complete, Lord Grimstone is returning to Investcorp, a Bahrain-based investment manager with offices in Mayfair. Investcorp’s single largest shareholder, owning 20% of the company since March 2017, is Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. He is to serve as an adviser and the chair of Investcorp’s planned climate fund.
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) approved Grimstone’s role with Investcorp after he and the Department for Business and Trade told the committee that he may have had occasional contact with Investcorp but had made no decisions relating to it.
But ministerial transparency records show Grimstone met at least 13 times with Investcorp’s key stakeholder Mubadala, including meetings with its chief executive, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, who is also the chair of Manchester City.
There is no specific reference to shareholders in the business appointment rules, but Acoba’s guidance for ministers does say applicants should provide “detailed information about […] their involvement in relevant matters in office. Applicants must provide as much information as possible.”
In March 2021, Grimstone signed the UK-UAE sovereign investment partnership between the UK government and Mubadala, with the deal expanded further in September 2021. The deal placed Mubadala in a position to oversee at least £10bn of investment in the UK from the United Arab Emirates over five years.
Grimstone previously worked at Investcorp as chair of a joint venture from February 2019. He served on its board of directors from September 2019 but his time at the company was cut short by his ministerial appointment.
A spokesperson for Grimstone said: “Mubadala is a minority shareholder in Investcorp and as such had no role in Lord Grimstone’s appointment. Lord Grimstone’s relationship with Investcorp predates his time in government, having served on Investcorp’s board of directors before joining government.
“Lord Grimstone followed all required procedures before taking up a new role at Investcorp and the Department for Business and Trade has confirmed that it did not have concerns regarding the appointment.”
The department said it had followed the correct procedures.
Investcorp is already advised by other British politicians. Richard Fuller, a Conservative MP who briefly worked in the Treasury, is paid £25,000 a year for 10 hours a month. The former defence secretary Michael Fallon is on its international advisory board, and while an MP declared he was paid more than £75,000 a year for eight hours a month.
Campaigners say the appointment process is another example of Acoba’s weakness.
Rose Whiffen, the senior research officer at Transparency International UK, said: “When former ministers move into private sector jobs, there are threadbare rules to stop them using privileged information gained whilst in post for the benefit of their new employers, which can undermine the public interest.
“If you’ve got a minister going to work for a company whose major shareholder they’ve met many times while in public office, this really should be declared and assessed before they get the green light for the appointment.
“At the very least, former officer holders should be transparent about their dealings with private companies during their time in power. While the government has promised to give Acoba more teeth, these reforms are still pending and stop short of giving it the powers and statutory footing needed to stop it being a mere paper tiger.”
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the advocacy director for the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, a London-based human rights organisation, said: “[Ministers] repeatedly evade transparency and fail to declare any links they may have.
“Even when this information comes to light, ministers can avoid any consequences and maintain their gained position.”
