Ashneer Grover Fired From BharatPe A Day After He Resigned
Financial technologies company BharatPe has severed ties with co-founder Ashneer Grover, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The decision came after a board meeting at which findings of an independent audit into practices at the company were discussed. Ahead of that meeting, Grover had submitted his resignation.
Grover is no longer an employee, a founder, or a director of the company as a result of his misdeeds, the BharatPe statement read. "The company has taken strong objection to Mr. 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 and grossly abused company expense accounts in order to enrich themselves and fund their lavish lifestyles.BharatPe Statement
BharatPe did not detail the findings of the independent audit. However, it said that the company reserves all rights to take further legal action against Grover and his family.
Responding to the company's statement, Grover said that he was appalled but not surprised.
"It comes from a position of personal hatred and low thinking...I hope the board can get back to working soon - I as a shareholder am worried about the value destruction. I wish the Company and the Board a speedy recovery," Grover said in a statement on Wednesday.
Ahead of the board meeting, Grover had written that he is being forced to bid adieu to a company he founded. In his letter, he said that investors were far removed from reality and were treating founders like "slaves".
"The fact of the matter is that today you believe that I have served my utility and so incrementally I am just becoming a liability. And since the investor template to make an unwanted founder go away is to make them the villain of the piece, that's what you have gone ahead and done," Grover wrote in his letter.
BharatPe, in its statement, said that Grover's letter came after he received notice that some of the results of the inquiry would be presented to the Board. "...he quickly shirked responsibility by sending an email to the Board submitting his resignation and fabricating another false narrative of the events to the public," the company said.
The statement added that the board is taking all necessary steps to strengthen the company's corporate governance, including by appointing an audit committee and an internal auditor and by implementing other key internal controls.
Grover has claimed that his stake in the company is around 9.5%.
Under the articles of association of the company, the board can buy back a founder's stake at a nominal value, if an independent review establishes any impropriety. In his letter, Grover has claimed that while BharatPe was valued at Rs 20,000 crore ($3 billion) after its latest fund raise, it is now worth Rs 40,000 crore. This would value Grover's stake in the company at around Rs 4,000 crore.
The articles of association also specify that a founder of the company can be ousted on certain specific conditions. The articles state that if a founder terminates his employment for reasons other than death or permanent disability and without adequate approval from a majority of investors, the company reserves the right to buy back his restricted shares at a price which is lower of the full market value of the shares or the value paid by the founder when he acquired those shares.
Restricted shares accounted for 75% of the shares held by the founder at the end of the fund raise in September 2019 and any shares issued to a founder subsequently. According to a person in the know of the developments at BharatPe, Grover resignation letter on Tuesday could trigger these provisions.
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