With Infosys ruling out wrongdoing in the Panaya deal, and refusing to make the investigation report public, there came an outpouring of support for the software major’s beleaguered ex-chief executive Vishal Sikka, and questions for founder NR Narayana Murthy.
Several Twitter users, including shareholders, took to the social media platform to question founder Murthy who kicked up a storm last year by questioning corporate governance at the company. The Panaya deal and the high remuneration of former chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal was at the heart of the issues he raised.
On Tuesday, releasing its second quarter results, Infosys gave a clean chit to the Panaya deal, and conceded that Bansal’s severance could have been handled better.
In February, the Indian and US markets regulators received anonymous whistleblower complaints alleging irregularities in the acquisition of software firm Panaya. The company conducted an internal investigation and said in June that it found no evidence of wrongdoing.
This was in addition to questions that were raised earlier about the high severance pay given to former CFO Bansal.
By August, founder Murthy asked Infosys’ board to make the report into the whistle-blower complaints public.
Also read: A broad timeline of the turmoil at Infosys leading to Vishal Sikka stepping down
On Tuesday, the focus clearly shifted from the second quarter results to the company’s statement on the Panaya deal and Bansal’s severance.
These users had some strong words for the Infosys founder:
Complete loss of credibility for the so called socialist-capitalist Narayana Murthy who took after @vsikka - such a sad day!! https://t.co/XCyvPOdCAa— N Shekar (@n_shekar) October 24, 2017
so all that drama was to target Vishal Sikka @vsikka. Mr. Murthy has lost his respect.— Pardeep kaushik (@CApardeep) October 24, 2017
Another user had some advice for Sikka:
Vishal Sikka must sue Narayan Murthy now for defamation. Panaya and ex CFO severance package is now found above board.— Vasu (@vasudevan_k) October 24, 2017
Infosys also said on Tuesday that it will not make the investigation report into the Panaya probe public.
If no wrong-doing then publish it .. anyways it is not your personal health report. Also are you saying @Infosys_nmurthy was lying about Hush money? or unnecessarily targeted @vsikka ?— Rudra (@WildSeaRock) October 24, 2017
Will NRN ask for Nandan Nilekani's expulsion?Or will he state why he hounded Sikka out?What is the difference then between Nandan & Sikka?— Abhishek Basumallick (@a_basumallick) October 24, 2017
A shareholder had this to say:
@NandanNilekani @Infosys Plz get Sikka back as CEO, why am I (shareholder) made to suffer when you have found no corporate governance issues— Ameya (@ATweetinghole) October 24, 2017
One user questioned if Murthy would apologise to Sikka and shareholders:
Will u apologize to @vsikka? Corp gov is at its peril in infy.NM is the real culprit.He has to beg pardon to Sikka/Investors.— Rose Mondy (@Rosmondy) October 24, 2017
Questions were also addressed to Nandan Nilekani:
@NandanNilekani too says he/board too, like their predecessors, will not make the investigation report public. Murthy has lot to answer. https://t.co/CsgnN8AFCP— Tofik Shaikh (@Tofik_Shaikh_) October 24, 2017
During the call with analysts as well as during the media interaction, Nilekani laid out the focus areas for the company going forward, but avoided most questions regarding Sikka and Murthy.
In response to questions about there being no significant shift in strategy from what Sikka had laid out, Nilekani said that while they may look superficially the same, the difference lies in execution.
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