Fired fund managers violated securities law, says Axis Mutual Fund

Axis Mutual Fund (MF) on Tuesday said it has reasons to believe that the two fund managers it sacked have violated the securities law. The fund house has said it has shared the findings of a suo motu investigation done by external advisors to markets regulator — the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

“Viresh Joshi committed clear breaches of our policies, including non-cooperation with our internal investigation (during his suspension period). We also have strong reasons to believe, based on available evidence, that there have been breaches of the securities law by him,” Axis MF said in a statement on Tuesday. It further said the fund house no longer has any association with (Viresh) Joshi and Deepak Agrawal.

In May, Axis MF terminated Joshi and (Deepak) Agrawal, following allegations of tailgating. The fund house didn’t cite a reason for their termination.

Axis MF said it terminated (Deepak) Agrawal for breaches of policies and has reasons to believe “he may have violated the securities law”.

Last month, (Viresh) Joshi sued the fund house in Bombay High Court for wrongful termination.