Ankiti Bose announced on June 30 that she has resigned from Zilingo’s Board. In a statement, the former CEO, who was sacked, said she is resigning due to the opacity of information as a board member and shareholder.
“Over the past few months, despite my many requests, the Zilingo board has failed to show me any report (issued by Kroll or Deloitte) which pertained to any investigations into the company or into my alleged misconduct, and why or how these were used to terminate my position as CEO,” she said. This, she added, was despite the fact that she was a director on the Board of Zilingo’s holding company and subsidiaries, and is a large shareholder. Other material information pertaining to the company was also concealed from her, she said.
She added that employees and customers are also in a state of limbo. “Real lives and jobs have been at stake,” she said, stating she will support any plan that saves jobs at the company.
Bose was fired on May 20 from the Singapore-based B2B e-commerce startup after being suspended due to alleged financial irregularities. She was told about mismanagement and accounting irregularities at the company when it was looking to raise funds. While media reports said Bose had been suspended over shutting down complaints of sexual harassment as well, Zilingo said the decision to suspend her over financial irregularities was taken by the Board jointly. It added that the harassment allegations came only after her suspension on March 31.
Earlier this month, Bose and her co-founder Dhruv Kapoor came together to make a management buyout of the company. This came as there were discussions of voluntary liquidation of the company. “As founders, it is our ultimate responsibility to make sure that we do whatever it takes to make sure the lights stay on at Zilingo and in the homes of the hundreds of people who are part of it," Bose then told Moneycontrol.
