India’s second-largest IT exporter Infosys on Thursday said it was not planning to disclose details of the report of the probe conducted by an external agency relating to whistleblower complaints.
‘No impropriety found’
“The company does not plan to make the report public,” Infosys said replying to an email sent by The Hindu asking whether Infosys would release the report as demanded by Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy.
It is reliably learnt that Mr. Murthy had written to the company’s board asking for disclosure of the details of the probe to irregularities feared in Infosys’s acquisition of of Panaya and Skava.
In June, Infosys had said that an independent probe, by law firm Gibson Dunn and investigation firm Control Risks, had found no impropriety.
Mr. Murthy’s fresh salvo came after the board, at the company’s annual general meeting, briefed shareholders on the issue.
The probe was conducted based on two anonymous whistleblower complaints (forwarded to the company by the Securities and Exchange Board of India), alleging wrongdoing by the company during the acquisition of Panaya and Skava Systems in 2015.
Also, the complaints had questioned the severance pay given to former CFO Rajiv Bansal on his exit from Infosys. Prior to the investigation by the international law firm, the allegations were investigated by Indian law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.
Previously, Mr. Murthy had raised the issue of corporate governance and had questioned the salaries paid to CEO Vishal Sikka and COO Pravin Rao.
He had also questioned the role of the chairman on various decisions taken by the firm.
“After a detailed and extensive investigation conducted by Gibson Dunn and Control Risks, they did not find any evidence whatsoever of wrongdoing by the management to support the allegations of the anonymous complaint,” said Infosys in a statement.
The Board had appointed Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, corporate governance experts, to receive inputs from promoters and other stakeholders, evaluate them and make recommendations to the board.
