Ashneer Grover, who quit fintech platform BharatPe he co-founded amid serious allegations of financial wrongdoings against him and his wife, has hit back at the Board of the company, saying he is "appalled at the personal nature of the BharatPe Board's statement, but not surprised".
In a LinkedIn post, he said that "it comes from a position of personal hatred and low thinking".
"I think the Board needs to be reminded of $1 million of secondary shares investors bought from me in Series C, $2.5 million in Series D and $8.5 million in Series E. I would also want to learn who among Amarchand, PWC and A&M has started doing audit on 'lavishness' of one's lifestyle? The only thing lavish about me is my dreams and ability to achieve them against all odds through hard work and enterprise," he further said.
On Wednesday, BharatPe said that Ashneer, his wife Madhuri Jain, and their relatives were engaged in extensive misappropriation of company funds and grossly abused company money to fund their lavish lifestyles.
BharatPe said it reserves all rights to take further legal action against him and his family.
"The Grover family and their relatives engaged in extensive misappropriation of company funds, including, but not limited to, creating fake vendors through which they siphoned money away from the company's expense account and grossly abused company expense accounts in order to enrich themselves and fund their lavish lifestyles," the company elaborated.
Board will not allow the "deplorable conduct of the Grover family to tarnish BharatPe's reputation or that of its hard-working employees and world-class technology".
"As a result of his misdeeds, (Ashneer) Grover is no longer an employee, a founder, or a director of the company," the company announced.
Slamming the Board, Grover said in the post that it "can get back to working soon. I as a shareholder am worried about the value destruction. I wish the company and the board a speedy recovery. Please get back to your actual day jobs".
"I indeed have a very lavish lifestyle. I get invited by friends with open hearts to their homes, where I have no qualms sleeping on the floor. And this is when I am on the road in the US and the UK raising $370 million Series E. And I've the right to stay in any lavish hotel and charge it on the company issued credit card in my pocket. Those who haven't built from scratch will never understand the Founder's mentality," he added.
BharatPe had earlier sacked his wife Madhuri Jain over allegations of financial irregularities during her tenure at the company as head of controls.
(With inputs from IANS)
