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Police have launched an investigation in recent months into claims of stalking made by several executives from Boohoo, the online fast-fashion retailer.
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office also confirmed on Wednesday that it had received a complaint from Boohoo that surveillance equipment had been discovered outside the Manchester-based retailer’s headquarters. The identity of the suspected perpetrators is unknown.
Police are investigating whether stalking offenses targeted Dan Finley, Boohoo’s chief executive, John Lyttle, its former boss, and co-founder Mahmud Kamani, the Times first reported.
Boohoo Group confirmed the police investigation and declined to comment further.
Kent Police said on Wednesday it is investigating reported stalking crimes, including at locations in the Sevenoaks area, adding that investigations are ongoing and there have been no arrests.
Greater Manchester Police said: “An investigation into stalking involving serious alarm/distress is ongoing but no arrests have been made at this stage.”
Boohoo is separately locked in a bitter battle with its largest shareholder, Frasers Group – of which sportswear magnate Mike Ashley owns 73 percent – over the company’s performance and the composition of its board.
Aim-listed Boohoo’s shares have lost more than 90 percent of their value since their peak in June 2020, when the retailer was buoyed by an online shopping boom during the Covid-19 pandemic. Shares in Frasers have more than doubled in the same period.
Frasers has claimed Boohoo is “mismanaged” and criticized a recent £222m refinancing, calling it a “catastrophe”. The group, known for Sports Direct, also demanded last month that Kamani “must resign” as chairman.
Boohoo announced that Kamani had been moved from executive chairman to executive vice-chairman on the same day Frasers made its final demands.
It has urged shareholders to vote against Frasers’ wish to appoint Ashley as a director at a meeting with investors on December 20, saying the sportswear mogul is “not suitable” for such a role.