External expert to review L&T probe into Cognizant deal

CHENNAI: Larsen & Toubro said an external expert would review the findings of an internal probe the company carried out two years ago, after client Cognizant Technology Solutions disclosed that bribes were paid to get building permits for its campuses in India.L&T, India’s largest engineering and construction firm that was the contractor for Cognizant’s campus outside Chennai, said the internal probe didn’t reveal any evidence linking the involvement of the company or its executives to the issues raised in the software exporter’s disclosure.The 2017 “management-initiated” investigation was carried out by “leading law firms in USA and India, with the help of forensic experts from Hong Kong”, the company said in a late Thursday filing with stock exchanges.ET, citing US court documents, reported earlier that Cognizant had allegedly withheld $17 million in payments to its construction contractor in 2014 to apply pressure for securing building permits from authorities in Tamil Nadu.The construction firm, which it didn’t name, then hired a third-party consultant to pay a bribe of around $2 million to government officials, the court said in the indictment order against two former American executives of Cognizant, who are accused of authorising the payment of bribes.L&T said the management on Wednesday presented to its audit committee details of the construction contracts with Cognizant, as well as information related to a recent settlement the software firm entered into with the US regulators and ongoing proceedings before the US Department of Justice.The committee noted that there was no evidence to suggest the involvement of the company or its executives in the allegations made against Cognizant executives, it said.L&T said also the audit committee would “decide the future course of action” based on the findings of the external expert.Meanwhile, the Income Tax Department has revived its demand that Cognizant provide records related to the payment of bribe, as it is probing the software exporter’s withdrawal of a depreciation claim on the asset for which the bribes were allegedly paid.The company has been given time till March 10 to submit the documents.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2EJ6RK1