 "Rajiv Bansal")
India's second largest software exporter Infosys Ltd said on Friday that two investigations conducted after the resignation of its chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal have not revealed any wrong-doing on part of both the company and its former executive.
Infosys had signed a separation agreement in October last year, when it replaced Bansal with MD Ranganath as chief financial officer, with a severance pay of Rs 17.38 crore. Since then, there have been speculations that Infosys was buying Bansal's silence with the huge severance pay.
Infosys said the agreement, which includes for non-compete obligations, had also explicitly enabled Bansal to report to regulators in future if there was any impropriety during his tenure.
"The severance agreement is being administered in accordance with the contractual rights and obligations. Certain payments to Rajiv under the agreement have been suspended pending certain clarifications with regard to such rights and obligations," Infosys put in a notice on its website on Friday. It added that the suspension was not on account of any 'extraneous conditions.'
The investigation by law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas was prompted after questions were raised over Bansal's exit. In August 2016, there was a second investigation when the audit committee got an anonymous letter "which alleged that the severance payment to Rajiv was intended to silence him." Audit consultancy firm KPMG shadowed the investigation. Latham & Watkins, legal advisors to the board, supervised and coordinated the investigations.
"The agreement with Rajiv allowed him to report to the regulatory authorities in future any matter of impropriety during his tenure. Further, necessary approvals had been obtained and appropriate disclosures were made in the matter. The investigation was based on extensive examination of records, emails, and interviews with relevant people," it said.
