Binny Bansal Resigns After 2016 “Serious Misconduct” Allegations

After an internal probe into a case of serious personal misconduct filed in 2016 against Flipkart CEO Binny Bansal, he recently decided to resign from his position, Walmart said on Tuesday. Walmart in May this year, had announced the acquisition of 77% stakes in Flipkart. It has been reported that a former woman employee of Flipkart had accused Bansal of misconduct and filed the complaint in 2016.

Bansal, in a letter addressed to the employees of Flipkart, has categorically denied the allegations and said that the allegations remain uncorroborated after an investigation completed by an independent law firm.

“The allegations left me stunned,” said 37-year-old Bansal, who was chief executive of the Flipkart Group from January last year.

“The investigation, however, did bring to light lapses in judgment, particularly a lack of transparency, related to how I responded to the situation,” he said, Hindustan Times reported.

After the woman filed the complaint in 2016 and probe could not substantiate the accusations, sources close to firm told media, she approached Walmart Global in July this year. She wrote Walmart CEO Doug McMillon alleging misconduct. After this, Walmart and Flipkart both called in an independent law firm to probe the case while Walmart continued to forge the deal with Flipkart in the meanwhile.

While the investigation did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant’s assertions against Binny, it did reveal other lapses in judgment, particularly a lack of transparency, related to how Binny responded to the situation. Because of this, we have accepted his decision to resign.

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Walmart officials recently commented on Bansal’s resignation, “While the investigation did not find evidence to corroborate the complainant’s assertions against Binny, it did reveal other lapses in judgment, particularly a lack of transparency, related to how Binny responded to the situation. Because of this, we have accepted his decision to resign.”

The complainant worked in Flipkart till 2012 which is when she left the company and started her event management company. In 2016, she again connected with Bansal, said sources. Walmart has shown discontent with the fact that Bansal never mentioned about this case during the acquisition negotiations. It has claimed “lack of transparency” on Bansal’s part in the way he handled the matter and the company’s own “lapse of judgment” in a statement.

The probe reported examined payments allegedly made to the complainant.

A payment of $16 billion was made by Walmart to acquire Flipkart’s stakes in order to fight against Amazon in the vast Indian e-comm market. The investment is the US retailer’s largest-ever acquisition in the history. After the stepping down of Bansal, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who heads the company’s main Flipkart e-commerce operation, would now act as chief executive for a broader group of businesses including apparel websites Myntra and Jabong, Walmart said.

Picture credit- Indian Express

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