BharatPe has fired Madhuri Jain, the company's controller, on charges of "misappropriation of funds". Jain, whose husband is BharatPe cofounder Ashneer Grover, was in charge of finances since October 2018.

Share Market Live

NSE

Jain has alleged a "witch-hunt" by BharatPe Chairman Rajnish Kumar and others. She has called law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, Alvarez & Marsel as "agents" of Rajnish Kumar. She has alleged that the audit is a "sham" and that no confidentiality was maintained.

And these are the people @SuhailSameer14 sitting on Governance Review and passing judgement on me ! Great work by @sequoia and @HarshjitSethi and Chairman Rajnish Kumar for a perfectly executed witch hunt with your accomplices @sumeetsingh29 and @BhavikKoladiya. @bharatpeindia

— Madhuri Jain Grover (@madsj30) February 23, 2022

BharatePe sources told CNBC-TV18, that Madhuri Jain was terminated on charges of alleged fraud and embezzlement. "Ongoing probe has found misappropriation of funds during her time at BharatPe. Probe found she funded travel, skincare, and bought expensive electronics with company money. Probe found personal spends of few crores on company money, including over Rs 1 crore on holiday travels," BharatPe sources said.

As per a preliminary report by risk advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal conducted in January, inconsistencies were found in dealings with vendors. The report had flagged up payments to vendors and consultants that were non-existent, Moneycontrol reported.

Sources told CNBC-TV18 that Alvarez & Marsal is likely to submit the corporate governance review report on BharatPe next week. The Board of Directors will meet after receiving the report by auditors. The company is already focusing on key appointments including that of Head of Audit and CFO as part of governance review.

Also Read:

Madhuri Jain writes to BharatPe board over her “alleged resignation”: Report

According to the Alvarez & Marsal report, BharatPe claims to pay recruitment fees to hire consultants for the employees they recruit for the company. Alvarez & Marsal could confirm that some of the employees, claimed to be hired through consultants, were brought on board. However, the said employees later revealed that no consultants interacted with them, and neither they had knowledge of their existence, the report added.

In three instances of such payments the consultants, the report finds that Madhuri Jain Grover herself received invoices for payments and forwarded them to the accounts team. Moreover, these invoices were created by Shwetank Jain, brother of Madhuri Jain Grover.

Both Grover and Jain have been on leave from the startup starting January 19 and 20, respectively.

Also Read: Ashneer Grover in talks to sell his 9.5% stake in BharatPe: Report

According to a Moneycontrol report, Ashneer Grover had written to the board of Resilient Innovations (BharatPe parent) on February 22 accusing Rajnish Kumar of being "biased and prejudiced". He said: "Governance Review is riddled with premeditation, bias, and prejudice and that Rajnish Kumar’s involvement in recent episode completely erodes any semblance of non-partisan supervision by him." He added he was already in the process of an ongoing Arbitration before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).

To this Rajnish Kumar said: “Should the board members have any doubts about my impartiality in the matter, I have no intention to continue and can’t tolerate this type of mudslinging by anyone.” He said Grover’s letter won't have any impact on the company and that board is "aligned to action" and "action will be taken on the basis of the audit report of PWC".

Also Read: BharatPe founder Ashneer Grover accuses CEO Suhail Sameer of siding with investors to oust him

First Published:Feb 23, 2022 3:38 PM IST