Snapdeal registers FIR against GoJavas promoters

Gurugram-based Snapdeal has registered an FIR against the promoters of Quickdel Logistics-owned GoJavas, an e-commerce-focused logistics firm. Snapdeal, which has now exited from the venture, once held 49.99 per cent equity in the logistics firm.

The FIR registered with the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police includes names of former executive director of Quickdel Logistics Abhijeet Singh, besides promoters Praveen Sinha, Randhir Singh and Ashish Chaudhary as the primary accused.

The FIR has come at a time when Flipkart is conducting due-diligence on Snapdeal for acquisition. The complaint has been registered against the GoJavas promoters for cheating, forgery, conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and criminal misappropriation of funds.

According to an Economic Times report, Snapdeal does not hold any shares in GoJavas and had filed a complaint in 2016 with the Delhi Police, which was duly investigated and the FIR registered on Friday.

The FIR has been filed by Krishna Mohan Chaudhary, director of legal at Snapdeal. Earlier in March this year, the Softbank-backed company had exited from GoJavas after it took over the logistics firm.

Later, Snapdeal sold GoJavas in a fire sale to Pigeon Express. The online marketplace had invested Rs 357.26 crore in Quickdel.

Snapdeal registered an FIR based on findings of an inspection of accounts of Quickdel from January 2015 to March 2015. The inspection commissioned by Snapdeal revealed illegal, inflated and excess payments to non-existent persons.

"The complainant was induced into buying shares of Quickdel from Quickdel and Randhir Singh and Praveen Sinha. The complainant acquired 49.99 per cent shareholding in Quickdel by paying an amount of Rs 119.99 crore to Randhir Singh and Praveen Sinha and Rs 237.27 crore to Quickdel," notes the FIR.

Importantly, the formation of GoJavas was one of the serious concerns raised by a forensic audit conducted by Pricewaterhouse-Coopers (Sweden) in January 2016. The audit was commissioned by Rocket Internet, which owned fashion portal Jabong and Fabfurnish.

The audit alleged that the investors were unaware of the carving out of the logistics unit GoJavas into a separate entity and investment secured by it from Snapdeal.