SUMMARY
Grover has urged the RBI to investigate whether Kumar has cornered equity shares worth hundreds of crores since joining the company’s board
The BharatPe ex-MD has also claimed that Kumar hiked his salary to INR 1.5 Cr a year, more than three times his initial fees at the time joining the fintech’s board back in 2021
Grover also accused the BharatPe board, its investors and management of allegedly committing fraud and lying to the RBI
BharatPe’s former managing director Ashneer Grover has reportedly shot off another letter to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) calling for a probe against chairman of the fintech startup’s board, Rajnish Kumar.
In a letter seen by The Economic Times, Grover urged the RBI to investigate whether Kumar has cornered equity shares worth hundreds of crores since joining the company’s board. The BharatPe ex-MD has also claimed that Kumar hiked his salary to INR 1.5 Cr a year, more than 3X compared to his initial fees at the time joining the fintech’s board back in 2021.
“These allegations are baseless and without merit. This is another desperate attempt to malign the company. We continue to pursue civil and criminal action against Mr. Grover at the Hon’ble HC, EOW and other relevant authorities and (we) have full faith in the judicial system of the country,” a BharatPe spokesperson said.
Dated March 9, the latest letter by Grover also accused the company’s board, its investors and management of allegedly committing fraud and lying to the RBI regarding the ultimate beneficial ownership of the company’s shares.
The letter claims that the startup’s board and investors “warehoused” another cofounder Bhavik Koladiya’s shares for a specific period of time. To bring him back into the company after requisite approvals from the RBI.
Simply put, warehousing refers to accumulating the shares of a company, for a period of time, that is to be the target for a takeover.
It is pertinent to note that Koladiya was previously convicted in the US for credit card fraud.
The letter further raised questions over whether the RBI would have actually allowed BharatPe to go ahead with the acquisition of 49% stake in Unity Small Finance Bank or a controlling stake in NBFC Liquiloans, if Koladiya was part of the company’s cap table during the time of filing the licence application.
Grover also urged the central bank to blacklist the startup’s board of directors and sought the cancellation of licences owned by BharatPe if the charges against the fintech are proven.
While noting that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs was already probing BharatPe, Grover added that RBI ought to investigate the company irrespective of the legal battles between himself and the company.
Training guns at the startup, he also claimed that BharatPe’s statutory auditor, Deloitte, has given him a clean chit.
The letter, dated March 9, is the second written by Grover to the central bank, accusing the fintech juggernaut and its leadership of allegedly committing fraud and lying to the RBI. The previous letter was written by him on March 6.
Since its launch, BharatPe has raised over $650 Mn across multiple rounds from investors such as Peak XV Partners, Ribbit Capital, Insight Partners and Steadview Capital.
The fintech unicorn posted a net loss of INR 926.9 Cr in FY23, which widened 12% year-on-year while its consolidated operating revenue jumped 125% YoY to cross the INR 1,000 Cr mark in FY23.
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