Ola rocked by recruitment fraud running into million dollars

Cab aggregator Ola has ordered an investigation into fraud allegations against the company’s HR head, Yugantar Saikia, according to a FactorDaily report.

Saikia, the head of human resources and chief administrative officer of Ola, allegedly favored a few vendors in return for kickbacks. As part of the investigation, Yugantar’s work assets including his laptop have been seized by the company and he has been asked not to report to work, even when he was on his notice period. Also, the hiring of nearly 1,000 Ola employees, administered by Saikia is being investigated and reviewed. Saikia allegedly siphoned off money in recruitments, which is a fee that was paid to an outfit created for this purpose, the report said.

While Ola has confirmed that there has been an ongoing investigation, it is not divulging any further details. Saikia was hired to head human resources for Ola in January 2015 and was also given additional charge of chief administrative officer in a few months.

He was serving his notice period and was expected to leave the company by the end of March, however, during the last week, his laptop was seized and he was asked to not report to work anymore.

FactorDaily, which first reported about the investigation, says that the fraud could be in the tune of a ‘few million dollars’.