BharatPe Says Misrepresentation of Facts Painful After Co-Founder’s Offensive

With BharatPe’s co-founder Ashneer Grover launching an offensive in opposition to the agency’s traders after going through a probe over alleged fraud, abrasive behaviour, and company governance points, the corporate on Friday mentioned questioning the integrity of board members and misrepresentation of details is painful.

“The (company) board in all its actions has followed due process in the best interest of the company. We would urge that the confidentiality and integrity of the governance review and board meetings is maintained by all,” BharatPe mentioned in an announcement.

The assertion adopted Grover, who was despatched on a three-month depart following allegations of utilizing abusive language in opposition to Kotak Mahindra Bank workers and for fraudulent practices, reportedly saying he was “arm-twisted” by the corporate’s traders into occurring depart and that he had misplaced confidence in CEO Sameer Suhail.

While BharatPe has engaged Alvarez and Marsal and PwC to run a fine-tooth comb by means of its governance practices, Grover has denied all allegations.

“We are deeply pained that the integrity of the BharatPe board or individual board members is being questioned time and again through misrepresented facts and baseless allegations,” BharatPe mentioned within the assertion.

It requested restraint from everybody together with media “and allow the governance review to take place in a thorough manner.” Reports declare {that a} preliminary investigation by an exterior specialist has highlighted two egregious situations of fraud at BharatPe — recruitment and paying non-existent distributors — and that Grover’s spouse Madhuri is linked to each.

The firm, nonetheless, mentioned it’s but to obtain any report.

“The board is yet to receive any interim or final report of the review,” it added.

Grover in media interviews reportedly acknowledged that the present CEO Suhail Sameer doesn’t have his help and that he’s the “investors’ puppet”.

He has reportedly acknowledged that he’ll depart the corporate provided that an investor buys out his 9.5 % stake for Rs 4,000 crore ($6 billion) valuation for BharatPe.

BharatPe serves over 75 lakh retailers throughout 150 cities. Its traders embrace Tiger Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Steadfast Capital, Coatue Management, Ribbit Capital, and others.

The firm was higher identified for its QR code aggregator app, service and shock financial institution licence till an audio clip surfaced on social media with claims of Grover, who’s co-founder and managing director of the agency, abusing and threatening a Kotak Mahindra Bank worker for lacking out on share allotment in the course of the preliminary public supply of FSN E-Commerce Ventures, which operates on-line style and wellness firm Nykaa.

Grover was fast to disclaim the clip, saying it was “fake” and was put out by a “scamster” however he subsequently deleted the submit. It later emerged that he and his spouse Madhuri Grover had on October 31, 2021, despatched a authorized discover to Kotak for failure to offer IPO financing for the Nykaa IPO.

On January 9, the Mumbai-based lender had responded saying it is going to take authorized motion in opposition to Grover, who was final seen on TV present Shark Tank.