First big jolt to Ashneer Grover, BharatPe has terminated the services of his wife Madhuri Jain Grover, head of controls at the fintech platform, for alleged financial irregularities during her tenure.
The head of controls of BharatPe and wife of Ashneer Grover, Madhuri Jain Grover, has been fired on charges of “misappropriation of funds”, multiple reports said, citing unidentified sources. “It seems that the company has found certain financial irregularities in the company’s books and has strong proof on funds being ‘used’ for personal purchases,” an Economic Times report said, citing one such source. A response could not be elicited from Jain or BharatPe. Jain has been managing finances at the company since October 2018.
Risk advisory firm Alvarez and Marsal had conducted a preliminary report in January, wherein it found inconsistencies in dealings with vendors, a Moneycontrol report said. The payments that were linked to the vendors and consultants were found to be non-existent. The report stated that in three instances Jain herself received invoices for payments which she forwarded to the accounts team. Overall, an expenditure of ₹53.25 crores was found to be made to 30 vendors that did not exist, the report said.
The newly-appointed BharatPe CEO Suhail Sameer recently wrote a letter to disgruntled employees, saying that there are some “serious allegations” based on internal complaints which are being reviewed and they must keep their faith in the Board.
While many findings of governance review are “pretty standard”, there are “a couple of more serious allegations,” he wrote, saying the review is still “substantiating the allegations”.
Sameer said that whatever the Board decides, it will be in the best interest of employees, merchants and consumers.
After BharatPe Co-founder and Managing Director Ashneer Grover, facing controversy for allegedly using inappropriate language against Kotak Mahindra Bank’s staff, took voluntary leave till March-end, his wife Madhuri Jain also went on leave in January.
