Why did BharatPe have to employ PwC to get rid of Ashneer Grover?
The BharatPe board’s decision to hire accountancy firm PwC for an independent audit is a step toward sacking co-founder and chief executive Ashneer Grover and his spouse Madhuri Jain Grover, who can only be fired if a Big 4 audit firm finds them guilty.
Grover further stated that the board of directors was pressuring him to leave the firm. Deloitte, the legal auditor who’s been monitoring BharatPe since 2019, has indeed been maintained at arm’s length for this effort. Therefore, it will continue serving as the company’s statutory auditor until 2024.
This comes as Alvarez and Marsal, a management consulting and risk advising firm, conducts a comprehensive governance assessment. While BharatPe declined to comment for this report, the corporation had previously disclosed that PwC was conducting a governance assessment.
The matter has reached a critical stage, with early results from Alvarez and Marsal pointing to financial wrongdoing inside the corporation, despite Grover’s denial of all claims. Several screenshots from Alvarez and Marsal early inspections that were released on social media reveal irregularities in relations with suppliers, as well as non-existent payments to vendors and consultants.
It claims that a total of Rs 53.25 crore was spent on non-existent suppliers, with the firm losing Rs 10.97 crore as a result of these transactions. BharatPe also claims to pay recruiting charges to advisors for the staff they recruit for the firm, according to the document. Though Alvarez and Marsal were able to confirm that some of the personnel were employed through consultants, the said individuals have stated that they had no involvement with any consultants during the process and are unaware of their presence.
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