Information technology firm Infosys on Wednesday criticised “mischievous insinuations made by anonymous sources” against the co-founders and former employees of the company. The whistleblowers, who called themselves “ethical employees”, told the IT major’s board of directors on September 20 that Infosys Chief Executive Officer Salil Parekh and Chief Financial Officer Nilanjan Roy had fudged financials and inflated profits.
The company on Monday claimed it had no evidence to back the allegations of “unethical practices”.
“These speculations are appalling and seem to be aimed at tarnishing the image of some of the most accomplished and respected individuals,” Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani said in a statement. “I have deep regard for the life-long contribution of all our co-founders. They have built this institution and have served this company selflessly and even today, remain committed to the long-term success of Infosys.”
The company said that the audit committee had appointed an external law agency to initiate an independent inquiry into the charges made in the complaints. Infosys said they would share the findings of the investigations “at the relevant time with all stakeholders”.
The whistleblowers had also alleged that they had emails and voice recordings to prove their claims. Parekh, the whistleblowers alleged, had made derogatory and sexist comments about board members DN Prahlad, D Sundaram and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.
In a meeting with analysts in Bengaluru, Nilekani claimed “even God can’t change the numbers of this company”. He said the company’s finance team was feeling insulted about the accusations. “But I don’t want to bias the investigation,” he said, according to The Economic Times.
“We at Infosys take whistleblower complaints very seriously,” Nilekani said, according to Moneycontrol. “The audit committee, while serving as a custodian, has brought on an external team to investigate the plaint.”
The chairman added that even though Infosys was not obligated to publicise “every investigative report”, it would provide a brief of the inquiry once completed. He said the company came to know about the complaint on September 30 and placed it before the audit committee on October 10.
Shares of the information technology firm were trading at Rs 712.60 (2.4% higher than the previous closing) as of 1.14 pm on Wednesday.
Now, follow and debate the day’s most significant stories on Scroll Exchange.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!