Barely a day after Ashneer Grover, the beleaguered co-founder of BharatPe, tendered his resignation, the board of the troubled fintech has sacked him from all positions — it no longer identifies him as a co-founder. This happened a few days after Ashneer‘s wife Madhuri Jain Grover, who was head of controls of the company was fired from her position.
The BharatPe board has alleged Grover and his family of “extensive misappropriation” of company funds — an accusation that has been doing the rounds ever since the media was made privy to the preliminary findings of its review of the company’s corporate governance. “The Grover family and their relatives engaged in extensive misappropriation of company funds, including, but not limited to, creating fake vendors through which they siphoned money away from the company’s expense account,” the statement said.
In his letter of resignation sent to the company’s board at midnight on March 1, a combative Grover accused BharatPe’s investors and the board of treating founders as ‘slaves’ andcutting ‘founders at will’.
Grover, after resigning from the board, launched a scathing attack against everyone associated with BharatPe — investors, lawyers and independent directors.
On being asked, what led to the decision, Grover told Moneycontrol.com in an interview, The whole process is a sham. They have decided what they want. There is no consideration for any process. They are just going after me, my wife, my whole family.”
The fracas–triggered by the release of an audio clip alleging verbal abuse by Grover directed at a Kotak Mahindra Bank employee—has seen the founder, the company and its board trading charges amid an independent audit into allegations of financial irregularities at the firm.
Consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal’s initial investigation showed that Grover’s family members, including his wife Madhuri Jain, the former head of controls at BharatPe , were allegedly involved in financial irregularities at the company.
Grover’s resignation comes on the back of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) rejecting his emergency plea, last week, against the ongoing ‘governance review’ within the company. He refused to reveal any more details on the arbitration. He added that he will not take any legal action going forward and that the entire fracas had ended with his resignation, from his point of view.
Meanwhile, Grover said that from his point of view the entire boardroom drama came to an end with his resignation, his wife, also had a similar stance on the matter. She said it was time to move ahead in life away from the endless “media drama”. The wife of founder and former Managing Director (MD) Ashneer Grover said this soon after deleting her series of tweets and videos criticising the activities at the company .
Here is a Timeline on How the Grover Vs BharatPe Saga has Played Out Till Now:
January 5: An anonymous Twitter handle called shared a soundcloud link to an audio clip, where Grover was allegedly heard hurling abuses at an employee of Kotak Mahindra Bank. The conflict happened because Kotak Mahindra Bank was allegedly unable to get Nykaa’s IPO allotment for Grover and his wife, the audio clip revealed.
January 6: Grover claims audio clip posted online is fake.
January 8: Clip is taken off Twitter and SoundCloud, Grover deletes his tweet.
January 9: Reports say Grover and wife sent legal notice to Kotak Mahindra Bank in Oct. Bank says it will take legal action over audio clip.
January 17: Grover’s August 2020 email spat with Sequoia employee surfaces.
January 19: Grover goes on ‘voluntary’ leave until March-end.
January 29: BharatPe board announces independent audit.
January 30: Grover expects “amicable resolution” but hires a law firm.
February 4: Preliminary investigation report links Grover’s wife Madhuri Jain with financial fraud. Grover’s
February 2: letter emerges seeking removal of CEO Suhail Sameer from board.
February 10: Jain writes to A&M questioning the leak of initial findings in report naming her.
February 11: CEO Sameer Sohail tells employees to trust the company board for future action
February 22: Grover seeks protection from any future action as part of settlement. Attacks board chairman Rajnish Kumar in a letter.
February 23: Bharatpe sacks Madhuri Jain on charges of misappropriating funds. Kumar says Grover’s allegations will have “no impact” on firm.
February 27: Grover’s emergency plea against BharatPe governance review rejected by SIAC.
March 1: Ashneer Grover resigns from BharatPe.
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