The board of software major Infosys was sent a second whistleblower letter, which accused CEO Salil Parekh of “eroding the company’s value systems” by incurring high and unnecessary travel costs.
News agency IANS, which said it had seen a copy of this letter, published a piece on November 12, describing its content. Moneycontrol has not seen the letter and cannot vouch for the veracity of its claims purportedly made.
This is the second whistleblower letter that has become public, the first of which levelled more serious charges against Infosys’ top management, including fudging of accounts, and which set off a share price plunge and a series of internal and external probes.
The second letter, addressed to Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani and independent directors on the Board, said Parekh works out of Mumbai instead of Bengaluru, which is a violation of his appointment condition.
The whistleblower said Parekh visits Infosys’ Bengaluru office twice a month. "These visits cost the company Rs 22 lakh towards airfare and local transportation. Four business-class tickets per month plus home to airport drop in Mumbai, airport pick-up in Bengaluru and drops on the return journey," the whistleblower said in the letter.
During the visits to Bengaluru, the whistleblower said Parekh arrives at the Bengaluru office by 1.30 pm and leaves by 2 pm the next day. "Parekh has taken an apartment on rent in Bengaluru but has not relocated to the city,” the letter said. This, the whistleblower claimed, was done with the intention to mislead the company’s board and founders.
The Infosys CEO has stock market connections and investments in several firms. Parekh lives in Mumbai in order to manage these investments, according to the whistleblower.
"This is a gross violation of the company's value system. The same has to be investigated and action for (Parekh's) termination should be initiated. Will the company allow such a deed by other employees? If not, then why spare the CEO? What is the toothless NRC (Nomination Remuneration Committee) doing?" asked the whistleblower.
The whistleblower fears retaliation if his or her identity is revealed, given the nature of the allegations against Parekh.
However, the second whistleblower letter does not seem to be new as Infosys made a mention of it in its October 22 response dealing with the first whistleblower letter.
"Pursuant to our whistleblower practice we have placed both Complaints before the Audit Committee on October 10, 2019 and before the non-executive members of the Board on October 11, 2019. These Complaints are being dealt with in an objective manner. The [second] undated whistleblower complaint largely deals with allegations relating to the CEO’s international travel to the US and Mumbai," Infosys said.
The company had also added that it would conduct a probe to look into allegations of the financial irregularities made out in the first letter but did not specify whether the allegations in the second letter would also be examined.
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