BharatPe co-founder & managing director Ashneer Grover‘s wife Madhuri Jain Grover, who is the Head of Controls at the fintech company, has gone on leave. The development comes within days of the embattled entrepreneur taking a leave of absence following the Kotak Mahindra Bank controversy.
BharatPe in a statement on Saturday said it initiated an independent audit of the “company’s internal processes and systems”. Through its legal firm, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, BharatPe has appointed Alvarez and Marsal, a leading management consultant and risk advisory firm to advise the Board on its recommendations. “The Board strongly believes in protecting the interests of all stakeholders, including customers, employees and partners,” the statement noted.
On January 19, Grover informed the board of the company that he was going on a voluntary leave until March-end. The announcement followed a controversy involving a purported audio clip in which the Shark Tank India co-host was heard verbally abusing a Kotak Mahindra Bank employee.
“Ashneer Grover, our Co-Founder and MD, has today informed the Board of his decision to take a voluntary leave of absence from BharatPe till March end. Ashneer has co-built BharatPe from scratch and his decision is consistent with his passionate commitment to the future success of the company,” BharatPe had said at the time.
“For now, the Board has accepted Ashneer’s decision which we agree is in the best interests of the company, our employees and investors, and the millions of merchants we support each day. BharatPe will continue to be ably led by our CEO Suhail Sameer and our strong management team,” it added.
Grover had come under scrutiny after an anonymous Twitter handle ‘bongo babu’ posted an audio clip carrying Soundcloud audio file in which the BharatPe co-founder was heard using expletives while talking with a Kotak Mahindra Bank employee for missing out on Nykka’s initial public offer. Grover denied any wrongdoing dubbing the audio clip as “fake”.
Grover and his wife also slapped the private lender with a legal notice for allegedly failing to provide financing in the IPO of FSN E-commerce Ventures, the holding company of Nykaa and to allocate its shares during the public offer in the HNI category.
Kotak Mahindra Bank acknowledged the notice publicly on October 30 and will “legal action” against Grover and his wife Madhuri in connection with the abusive call matter.
