BharatPe’s independent probe finds fraudulent financial transactions in the company

The preliminary findings of the report by A&M, dated January 24, said the company (BharatPe) pays recruitment fees to a number of ‘consultants’ on employees recruited through them. “In five sample cases, the employees have confirmed their date of joining as slated in the vendor invoice. But they have denied being recruited or engaged through the stated consultant or any knowledge of them,” the report, reviewed by ET said.

The report mentions BharatPe’s founder Ashneer Grover’s wife Madhuri Jain received at least three of these invoices herself and forwarded them for payments to the company. The creator of these invoices, according to the report, is Shwetank Jain, Jain’s brother.

“As per the document properties, the creator of all these invoices is ‘Shwetank Jain’. We understand from public domain sources that the brother of Madhuri Jain is ‘Shwetank Jain’. We noted invoices of three other vendors related to recruitment expenses. These have the same commonalities as mentioned above and all have the ‘author’ in document properties as ‘Shwetank Jain,” read the preliminary findings of A&M.

Mint first reported the development on Friday morning. Earlier in the week, ET had reported that Grover’s wife Madhuri
was under the scanner for financial irregularities as well.

On January 31, ET also reported saying Ashneer Grover had
New Delhi-based law firm Karanjawala & Co to take legal advice amid mounting pressure on him from the board to leave the company.

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In a recent interaction with the ET, BharatPe co-founder and managing director Grover said that
he is happy to participate in the investigation as long as it is as per Indian laws.

“I’m happy to participate in anything, as long as it is fair and is as per Indian laws. Anything which is extrajudicial or if anyone wants to go overboard—I will not be able to participate. I’m very clear as far as my personal wealth is concerned—it’s an open book,” added Grover.