BharatPe is likely to initiate legal action against Ashneer Grover, according to sources close to the development.
The company conducted a board meeting on March 1 evening (7:30 pm) to discuss the PWC report regarding Grover’s conduct and considering actions on it. “The board will discuss and deliberate on the report findings in the meeting and the action will be taken in the course of next few days,” the source told BusinessLine. The board meeting was ongoing when this story went to press.
On February 28, BharatPe MD and cofounder Ashneer Grover resigned from the company saying that he is being “forced to bid adieu to a company of which he is a founder.” Grover resigned from the position of Managing Director of BharatPe and Director of BharatPe, but continues to hold his 9.5 per cent stake in the company.
In a statement released on March 1, BharatPe said Grover had sent his resignation minutes after receiving the agenda for an upcoming board meeting that would entail submission of PWC report regarding Grover’s conduct and considering actions on it.
Last week, SIAC rejected Grover’s plea to stop the governance review and said that it was premature for it to give any conclusive decision making as the governance review is still not finalised. 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 report is expected to come in this week or so.
On February 22, BharatPe terminated Ashneer Grover’s wife and company’s head of controls Madhuri Jain because of the financial irregularities found by the company. According to BusinessLine sources, Jain’s termination featured examples of her using the company’s money for personal expenses, wellness and skin treatment, among other things.
Source also added that Grover signed off on ₹1.5 crore of penalty for GST. “Because they knew that recruitment invoices had GST on it and officials came asking for the money because money was not deposited. To push it under the carpet, they paid the penalty to the GST officials. So, in effect, the company ended up paying both the GST and penalty on fake invoices,” the source said.