Infosys Dismisses Whistleblower Allegations after Independent Inquiry

IT major Infosys has dismissed all allegations leveled by an anonymous group called ‘Ethical Employees’, who claimed to be a part of the company. A letter dated 20 September 2019 was submitted to the board of Infosys Limited and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accusing the chief executive officer (CEO) Salil Parekh and chief financial officer (CFO) Nilanjan Roy of the company had “asked them” to show more profits in the treasury by “taking up risks” and “make changes to policies”.

Infosys, however, recently announced that its Audit Committee of the Board of Directors had concluded the independent investigation into allegations contained in the anonymous whistleblower complaints and determined that the allegations are substantially without merit. The Audit Committee conducted a thorough investigation with the assistance of independent legal counsel Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. and PricewaterhouseCoopers Private Ltd.

"The Audit Committee took the anonymous whistleblower complaints very seriously and commissioned a thorough investigation with the assistance of independent legal counsel. The Audit Committee determined that there was no evidence of any financial impropriety or executive misconduct,” said Infosys’ Audit Committee Chairperson, D Sundaram.

The investigation team conducted a detailed and extensive analysis which included:

• 128 interviews with 77 persons including relevant Company personnel concerned with or mentioned in the allegations.
• Identifying 46 custodians for the collection of relevant documents and electronic data.
• Reviewing over 210,000 documents from electronic sources and imaged devices, with over 8 terabytes of electronic data being processed.

Anonymous employees through the letter had alleged that CEO Salil Parekh said “no one in the board understands these things, they are happy as long as the share price is up. Those two Madrasis (Sundaram and Prahalad) and Diva (Kiran) make silly points, you just nod and ignore them”.

Serious allegations of irregularities in large deals were also leveled. “In large contracts like Verizon, Intel and JVs in Japan, ABN Amro acquisition, revenue recognition matters are a force, which is not as per accounting standards,” said the whistleblowers in the letter.

"I am pleased that after a rigorous investigation, the Audit Committee has found no wrongdoing by the Company or its Executives. CEO Salil Parekh and CFO Nilanjan Roy are strong custodians of the Company’s proud heritage. Salil has played a key role in reinvigorating the organization and driving momentum and the Board is confident that he will continue to execute on the company’s new strategic direction successfully," said Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani.