Loses arbitration
Fintech firm BharatPe’s managing director Ashneer Grover has resigned minutes after receiving an upcoming board meeting agenda, which included consideration of action against him based on the report submitted by advisory firm PwC.
“Ashneer Grover resigned as Managing Director and from the Board Director of BharatPe minutes after receiving the agenda for upcoming Board meeting that included submission of the PWC report regarding his conduct and considering actions based on it. The Board reserves the right to take action based on the report’s findings,” Bharatpe said in a statement.
“I write this with a heavy heart as today I am being forced to bid adieu to a company of which I am a founder,” Grover wrote in his resignation email”.
Grover resigned a few days after he lost an arbitration that he had filed against the company’s investigation against him, with an emergency arbitrator holding that there was no ground to stop governance review at the fintech firm, a media report said.
The emergency arbitrator (EA) has, however, rejected all the five grounds of his appeal and denied a single relief, sources with direct knowledge of the development said.
Legal battle
Grover had pleaded before the arbitrator that the preliminary investigation was invalid because it was in violation of shareholder agreement and articles of association and the company has no authority to conduct such an investigation.
He had termed all appointments for the independent audit of the company’s internal processes and systems as bad in law. He had alleged that the members of the committee reviewing governance processes, such as company CEO Suhail Sameer and the company’s general counsel Sumeet Singh, seemed to be biased.
Also, ”the appointment of Suhail Sameer as a director be kept in abeyance, and he be restrained from discharging any functions as director of the company”, Grover had said in the plea which also sought that no action be taken against him.
According to PTI, EA rejected all the five grounds of relief. On the claim of bias, the EA said that Grover’s claim did not seem reliable or credible because until week back both Suhail and Sumeet were among the best employees and everything was great about them.
Also, everything the company has done is as per law and governance norms so there is no need to change anything, the EA noted, outrightly rejecting all contentions and giving no relief to Grover. Grover can challenge the arbitrator’s order before the Delhi High Court.
In his plea, Grover alleged that despite numerous representations/ objections, BharatPe deliberately kept the review and assessment by the review committee an opaque process and gave him no chance to present his case.
The first hearing on the arbitration happened on February 20 and the EA passed the order a couple of days back.
Grover was represented by Karanjawala & Co, while BharatPe was represented by senior counsel Abhishek Singhvi. In statements this month, Grover called for removal of Sameer.
Grover, who last month went on a two-month leave of absence following allegations of using abusive language against Kotak Mahindra Bank staff and fraudulent practices, had filed an arbitration plea with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) claiming the company’s investigation against him was illegal.
