BharatPe ex-CEO Ashneer Grover in fresh trouble with EOW over fake multi-crore invoices

In fresh worry for BharatPe co-founder and ex-CEO Ashneer Grover, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is looking into a possible fraud at BharatPe, the payment firm.

The investigation revealed questionable payments to supposed fake human resource consultancies by BharatPe's co-founder Ashneer Grover, his wife, and the former head of controls Madhuri Jain Grover, along with Madhuri Jain's family members, reported Mint.

What

The EOW is investigating BharatPe's co-founder Ashneer Grover for a possible money problem.

• They are looking into his alleged usage of fake bills for hiring, to move money around.
• The first report, as per Mint, says that five companies linked to Grover's family made bills with wrong dates.
• The dates on the bills came before they even created the bank accounts.
• This suggests they might have changed the dates to sneakily move money.
• The accused are suspected of using backdated invoices to transfer money from BharatPe's accounts, claiming that it was for recruitment work commissions.

What does the report say?

• The EOW report, which Economic Times said it has seen, said that around Rs 7.6 crore was paid to these fake HR companies.
• Rs 1.66 crore was paid in penalty for not following tax rules.
• Another Rs 71.76 crore is claimed to have been taken through fake transactions.
• The total amount involved in these transactions could be more than Rs 81 crore, as the EOW is still investigating.
• According to a preliminary report one invoice for Rs 39.9 lakh dated August 7, 2019, had a bank account linked to it that was opened on August 22, 2019. 
• This suggests that the invoices may have been backdated to unlawfully divert money from BharatPe.

The report also mentions that Madhuri Jain, who used to be in charge of controls at BharatPe, received large amounts of money from her family.

She was fired in 2022 after an audit found problems.

The report also discloses that the registered addresses of the alleged eight HR firms are linked to family members or relatives of Madhuri Jain, Suresh Jain (father of Madhuri Jain Grover), and Shwetank Jain (brother of Madhuri Jain), according to Mint.

Ashneer Grover transferred around Rs 46 crore to his father's account between 2019 and 2022, according to the report. 

Grover resigned as CEO in March 2022.

In a post from November 15, Grover mentioned that the investigation by the EOW is just starting.

Earlier this year, the EOW lodged a First Information Report (FIR) based on eight sections of the Indian Penal Code, including charges like criminal breach of trust, cheating, dishonesty, and forgery.

The FIR stemmed from a complaint filed by BharatPe's parent company in 2022, alleging the Grovers of engaging in wrongful activities such as generating counterfeit bills and involving nonexistent vendors to offer services to the company.