new Delhi: Ashneer Grover, embroiled in a bitter fight with the board of fintech firm BharatPe, on Tuesday resigned from his post of Managing Director (MD). He is one of the founders of the company.
A few days after Vikas, his wife Madhuri Jain Grover has been sacked from the post of control chief over allegations of misappropriation of funds.
Grover took a two-month leave in January following allegations of fraud and using abusive language against Kotak Mahindra Bank employees at BharatPe.
He had filed an arbitration petition at the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC) claiming that the fintech firm’s investigation against him was illegal.
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However, Grover failed to get interim relief from the SIAC, which has allowed a probe against him on alleged financial irregularities and governance lapses in the company, PTI quoted sources as saying.
In his resignation letter to the board, Grover said: “I write this with a heavy heart because today I am being forced to say goodbye to a company of which I am the founder. I say with my head that today This company is standing as a leader in the fintech world. Since the beginning of 2022, unfortunately, I have been embroiled in baseless and targeted attacks on me and my family by some people that not only me and my reputation but also damage the reputation of the company, which they are apparently trying to protect.”
Last month, BharatPe revealed that it had hired Alvarez to conduct a governance review of the company, and PwC was also involved.
Since the governance review began, Grover has questioned the board’s intent and media leaks, which contained parts of an audit report by Alvarez and Marsal, to find a way to social media.
Accusing investors of the treatment they treated, Grover wrote, “You enslave us as founders – drive us to build multi-billion dollar businesses and bite us at will. Investors in India -Founding relationship is one of the master- the slave. I am the rebellious slave who must be hung from the tree so that no other slave can ever dare to be like me again.
In his resignation letter, he challenged the board on the day-to-day affairs of the company. Grover wrote, “Since you clearly believe you can run this company better without me – I’m leaving you with this challenge. Build half of the value I’ve created so far, incrementally.” – I am leaving with you three times the money I have used so far. ”
“I raised Bharatpe as my kid. I made it with my co-founder and an amazing team of individuals. Most of the conditions were unfavorable (to say the least) but that didn’t stop me. Bharatpe was the last Entered the UPI arena and competed with tablets like PayTM, PhonePe and GooglePay – but it still emerged as a leader in the industry,” he said.
Grover said that even after his resignation from the board of BharatPe, he will continue to be the largest individual shareholder of the company.