February 22
BharatPe has terminated Madhuri Jain, who was the group head of controls at BharatPe and the wife of company co-founder and MD Ashneer Grover, according to a company source, who spoke to BusinessLine on condition of anonymity.
The source noted that Jain was terminated from BharatPe because of the financial irregularities discovered by the company. As per the employee contract, the termination of an employee also results in them losing the equity in the company.
Jain was recently named in the preliminary report by international consulting firm Alvarez and Marsal (A&M) as directly connected to the financial discrepancies carried out at BharatPe. However, BharatPe had earlier denied receiving any interim or final release of the independent review done by Alvarez and Marsal (A&M).
‘Consultants’
The fintech firm was said to be paying recruitment fees to a number of ‘consultants’ for the employees recruited through them when Jain was heading controls. In five such cases, employees have confirmed their joining date as the one mentioned in the vendor invoice but they had no knowledge of being recruited or engaged through the said ‘consultants.’ In three out of those five instances, Madhuri Jain Grover is said to have directly received the invoices from the vendors and forwarded them to the accounts team for payment, according to the report.
Settlement with the board
Further, according to a report in a financial daily, Grover has allegedly filed an arbitration plea in the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). Grover apparently has sought exemption from any future legal liabilities in the ongoing settlement discussions with BharatPe. He is reportedly signalling an intent for a settlement with the board after weeks of public spat between the two parties.
On January 29, 2022, BharatPe’s board had announced that they are conducting an independent audit of the company’s internal processes and systems and had appointed Alvarez & Marsal to advise the board on its recommendations. The final report is expected to come in a couple of weeks.
Both Ashneer Grover and Bharatpe did not respond to BusinessLine queries on the topic. Madhuri Jain could not be reached for comments.