MD and director of BharatPe resigned

Ashneer Grover, director of BharatPe resigned – Ashneer Grover, the controversial co-founder of Indian fintech startup BharatPe, has resigned as the company’s managing director and director, a day after the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) denied his petition to prevent a board probe. 
 
Grover said in a blistering letter to the board that he is being unfairly targeted by a few people and has been “vilified and abused in the most despicable manner.” 
 
“I write this with a heavy heart since I am being forced to leave a firm that I founded today.” With my head held high, I declare that this company is now a leader in the fintech industry. Grover wrote in his resignation letter, which was reviewed by Business Today, that “since the beginning of 2022, I’ve been embroiled in baseless and targeted attacks on me and my family by a few individuals who are ready not only to harm me and my reputation, but also to harm the reputation of the company, which ostensibly they are trying to protect.” 
 
“From being hailed as the face of Indian entrepreneurship and an encouragement to Indian youth to start their own enterprises, I’m now squandering my time fighting a long, lonely war with my own investors and management.” Unfortunately, the management has lost sight of what is really at stake in this fight – BharatPe,” he said. 
 
He charged the board with being “so distant from reality” that they had “lost what actual enterprises look like.” Grover said the board would rather trust in “gossip and hearsay” than have an open and honest discussion with him. 
 
Last week, BharatPe fired Madhuri Jain, the company’s ex-head of controls and Grover‘s wife, following claims of financial irregularities and money laundering. 
 
BusinessToday. The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) raided BharatPe’s head office and issued summons to the company’s authorised signatory to appear before the authority on November 1, 2021, according to In. Grover’s services have been terminated by the BharatPe board, especially due to serious charges of funds misappropriation, which includes GST evasion, leading to BharatPe paying over Rs 11 crore. 
 
Grover filed a lawsuit against Kotak Mahindra Bank, alleging that the bank refused to finance a personal investment and seeking damages from Uday Kotak, the bank’s CEO. The Kotak Group responded to the notification, expressing its displeasure with Grover’s unacceptable tone. 
 
Grover allegedly used obscenities in an earlier altercation with Harshjit Sethi, MD of Sequoia India, BharatPe’s largest shareholder, around the same time.

Director of BharatPe resigned

BharatPe hired management consultancy and risk consulting company Alvarez and Marsal (A&M) and ‘Big Four’ accounting firm PwC to conduct an independent audit and advise the board on its recommendations as troubling issues continue to emerge. 
 
Inconsistencies in recruitment and phoney invoices were discovered in a preliminary study by A&M, which involved Grover’s wife Madhuri Jain, her brother Shwetank Jain, and Grover’s brother-in-law Deepak Jagdishram Gupta. Although the employees denied being employed through the consultants named in the invoice, the research discovered five instances of BharatPe hiring personnel through various consultants who are paid the recruitment expenses. According to the investigation, in three of the aforementioned situations, Jain received invoices directly from vendors and sent them to account departments for payment. Payments were also made to vendors who did not exist. 

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