Infosys wants to pay fine for unintended lapses, says board member
The Infosys logo is seen at the SIBOS banking and financial conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 19, 2017. Picture taken October 19, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Helgren
Infosys board member Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Saturday noted that former company chairman R Seshasayee had admitted procedural lapses in the matter of the severance pay to former CFO Rajiv Bansal and had apologised for it at the last annual general meeting. She said Infosys’ settlement application to Sebi, made last week, was to pay a fine for the unintended procedural lapses.
Mazumdar-Shaw tweeted this on Saturday in response to atweet from a person who describes himself as an equity investor and who asked for her resignation from the board following the Infosys application. Some have viewed the application as an admission of guilt that the company has hitherto not admitted to.
On Sunday, former Infosys board member Mohandas Pai once again entered the discussion on the matter, disagreeing with the Infosys whistleblower’s demand on Saturday that Sebi should take exemplary action against the company. Speaking to PTI, Pai said such settlement applications happen all the time in all capital markets around the world “because some things are difficult to prove” and “companies don’t want to go through the ordeal of a regulatory action.” He said if there is no criminality and deliberateness, it’s perfectly fine for the company to file a settlement application. Contrary to the whistleblower, Pai seems to believe there was no fraud or misrepresentation by Infosys. Pai had previously said the settlement application was a vindication of N R Narayana Murthy’s stand, and Infosys should apologise to Murthy.
The chairman of Aarin Capital and Manipal Global Education Services stressed that consent decrees are a very normal part of any capital market. “It happens all the time in the US. It happens in all capital markets because some things are difficult to prove,” he told PTI.
