FINTECH COMPANY BharatPe has terminated the services of Madhuri Jain Grover, the wife of former control chief and co-founder Ashneer Grover, for alleged financial irregularities, The Indian Express has learned.
The company confirmed the development but gave no reason for the move. “At your request, we can confirm that Madhuri Jain Grover’s services have been terminated in accordance with the terms of her employment contract,” a company spokesperson said.
Sources told The Indian Express that Madhuri’s services were suspended for allegedly “misappropriating funds” and using company funds to buy beauty products and pay for family trips to the US and Dubai. The stock options granted to her have also been terminated under the employment contract, the sources said.
The termination letter details the alleged financial irregularities, the sources said. Ashneer and Madhuri were both fired from the company in January when the allegations surfaced.
Ashneer, who has been on three-month leave, is said to be close to an out-of-court settlement with BharatPe after filing an emergency petition with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre to drop the company’s investigation. He is believed to be seeking compensation for future liabilities while selling his shares back to the company.
Ashneer and Madhuri did not respond to queries from The Indian Express.
Late Wednesday, Madhuri posted a series of tweets and videos that appeared to show BharatPe employees partying in the workplace.
In a tweet, she accused them of inappropriate behavior at the office, “chauvinism” and “denounced them.” She posted screenshots of messages purportedly between an executive and her husband and questioned the governance review process that led to the dismissal. She also released an alleged recording of BharatPe co-founder Bhavik Koladiya calling her husband to ask him to attend the meeting.
The development comes close on the heels of an audit report prepared by A&M, a risk advisory firm roped in to look into the company’s corporate governance. According to some of the preliminary findings of the report, payments were allegedly made to “dubious” recruitment firms with crores of rupees spent on “non-existing” vendors and “questionable invoices” created to substantiate such spends.
BharatPe, through his law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, hired A&M to investigate internal governance issues – in particular to assess whether senior management had made appropriate internal disclosures of personal investments and to check for conflicts.
Complete News Source : The Indian Express
