Infosys whistleblower complaint probe: IT major asks investigators to complete probe in two week's time

Infosys, India’s IT major, wants the probes into the company’s alleged ‘irregularities’ to be completed with soon, according to news reports. Infosys is looking to form an internal team and has tasked a US law firm to help the company navigate the investigation into its accounting by the SEC, a report in The Economic Times said quoting sources. Nandan Nilekani, the non-executive chairman will lead the team, which will be assisted by Inderpreet Sawhney, the general counsel at Infosys. the report added. “The (company) has asked investigators to try and complete (the process) as soon as possible, as short as two weeks,” the report said, quoted a company source as saying, adding that the tech giant would “follow the rule book, whatever be the result”. Infosys, India’s second-biggest IT services firm by revenue after Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, on Tuesday said it was investigating claims including that Chief Executive Officer Salil Parekh bypassed reviews and approvals for large deals fearing the negative impact of reduced profit on Infosys’ share price. Infosys on Thursday said US market regulator SEC has initiated a probe on the whistleblower complaints that alleged “unethical practices” by top management of the IT major to boost revenues. [caption id=“attachment_4299991” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] Also, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sought additional information from the company on the issue. “The company has been in touch with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the anonymous whistleblower complaints (anonymous complaints) and has learnt that the SEC has initiated an investigation into this matter. The company will cooperate with the SEC’s investigation,” Infosys said in a statement. Also, Sebi has requested additional information from the company concerning the anonymous complaints, and Infosys will provide the information as per its request, it added. The probe initiated by the SEBI in the Infosys whistleblower case will include the trading pattern in the company’s shares in the derivatives market, according to reports. Shares of Infosys Ltd slipped nearly 1 percent after the firm said that the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Securities and Exchange Board of India had started a probe into the whistleblower complaints that were flagged earlier this week. Infosys said it is also “aware of a securities class action lawsuit” that has been filed against the company in federal court in the US-based on the generalised allegations in the anonymous complaints. “The company intends to defend itself vigorously in such a lawsuit,” it added, according to a PTI report. --With PTI inputs