Auditor Deloitte has flagged inappropriately approved vendors and excess payments at BharatPe, where its former MD and co-founder Ashneer Grover has been accused of cheating and embezzlement of funds.
In its latest annual report, BharatPe presented opinion of its statutory auditor that said the company's internal control system for vendor selection as well as for approval of invoices for purchase of goods and services were not operating effectively, resulting in procurements at inappropriately approved prices.
After devoting a page on the statutory auditors' report, BharatPe's annual report in the following section stated that “there were no instances of fraud reported by auditors to the board of directors”.
This was used by Grover to attack reportage, saying no journalist has read the annual report of BharatPe which has clearly writes of no fraud.
“Ek bhi journalist ne @bharatpeindia ki annual FY22 report nahi padi - auditor ne clearly likha hua hai 'NO instances of FRAUD reported by Auditors to the Board of Directors'. @Deloitte is the auditor who were paid Rs 4 crore audit fees (up from Rs 40 lakh I paid them as MD) and clearly found NOTHING,” Grover wrote on Twitter.
But when the preceding page of the annual report was pointed out to him, he launched personal attack, adding the role of auditor should be googled.
“Doosri baat - Jin forensic audit ki aap baat kar rahe ho @alvarezmarsal and @PwC - unpe @bharatpeindia ne Rs 9 crore kharche ke baad unki report ko junk kar diya - woh usko na to Court mein pesh kar rahe hai na police ko - to sawaal aapko apne Maliko se poochna chahiye mujh se nahi.” (The report of forensic audit [into allegations against Grover and his family] by Alvarez and Marsal and PwC, on whom Rs 9 crore was spent by BharatPe, was junked and was neither presented to court or police. And question on it should be asked to them and not to him).
He then went on to site 'innocent till proven guilty' law but did not reply to concerns Deloitte flagged in the report.
BharatPe in police and court complaints has alleged that Grover, his wife Madhuri Jain and other family members created fake bills, enlisted fictitious vendors to provide services to the company, and overcharged the firm for recruitment. It is seeking up to Rs 88.67 crore in damages.
