which accused cofounder Ashneer Grover and his family of misappropriating funds, Grover said he wasn’t surprised, adding that the statement came from a position of “personal hatred”.
On Wednesday, BharatPe issued a statement saying it had found that Grover and his family members had engaged in extensive misappropriation of funds’, adding that it reserves the right to “take further legal action against him and his family”.
Also Read | BharatPe accuses Ashneer Grover, family of ‘fraud’; read the full text
“I am appalled at the personal nature of the company’s statement, but not surprised. It comes from a position of personal hatred and low thinking. The board needs to be reminded of $1 million of secondary shares investors bought from me in Series C, $2.5 million in Series D and $8.5 million in Series E. I would also want to learn who among Amarchand, PwC and A&M has started doing audits on ‘lavishness’ of one’s lifestyle?” Grover said.
The developments come against the backdrop of BharatPe’s board meeting on Tuesday evening, where the findings of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit report were discussed.
In its statement on Wednesday, BharatPe said that as a result of Grover’s misdeeds he was no longer an employee, founder, or director of the company.
Discover the stories of your interest
“The company has taken strong objection to Grover spinning lies and hurling baseless allegations and threats. 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 account and grossly abused company expense accounts in order to enrich themselves and fund their lavish lifestyles,” BharatPe said in its statement.
Grover added in his response that he expects the board to “get back to working soon”. “The only thing lavish about me is my dreams and ability to achieve them against all odds through hard work and enterprise. I hope the board can get back to working soon. I as a shareholder am worried about the value created. I wish the company and the board a speedy recovery,” he added.
In an interaction with ET on March 1,
Grover made allegations against BharatPe’s board members, its founder, and top management, saying the entire matter was a “witch hunt” to get him out of the company. “I have run processes, and this is not a process, it is a witch hunt. And now it is up to me that I’m not a part of this witch hunt any longer. That a governance review magically overnight becomes a ‘conflict of interest’ case,” he told ET.
BharatPe head of controls and Grover’s wife
Madhuri Jain was sacked by the company on February 22 on grounds of misappropriating funds. Jain had posted videos of parties at BharatPe’s office on Twitter last week, taking a dig at chief executive Suhail Sameer and group product head Bhavik Koladiya. In a series of tweets, she also termed BharatPe’s all-male board “chauvinistic”.
