BENGALURU: Two weeks after an anonymous whistle-blower group accused Infosys of violating accounting ethics for showing bigger profits, the IT services major told the National Stock Exchange (NSE) that it had not found any concrete evidence to support the allegations.
“With respect to the anonymous complaints, there is no prima facie evidence that the company has received until date to corroborate any of the allegations made,” the letter addressed to NSE said. With the announcement, share prices of Infosys rose 3.23 per cent on NSE to Rs 710, from the previous close of Rs 687.90.
Infosys said that disclosures regarding the whistle-blower complaints were not made before the stock exchanges or the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as the corresponding event was not deemed to be ‘material’ under Regulation 30 of SEBI (LODR) Regulations, 2015.
The IT firm said an anonymous letter containing allegations and no supporting evidence could not be regarded as being credible or concrete.
Various regulatory authorities in India and the US, including SEBI, National Finance Reporting Authority (NFRA) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, are investigating allegations by the whistle-blower group, involving Infosys CEO Salil Parekh and CFO Nilanjoy Roy and about unethical practices to boost quarterly revenue and profits.
The stock exchanges had earlier sought responses from Infosys on its failure to disclose the whistle-blower complaint under Regulation 30 of SEBI (LODR) Regulations, 2015. The IT services firm replied that it was under no obligation to disclose the same under Regulation 30 of the LODR Regulations.
Anonymous complaints do not fall within the purview of deemed material events under the LODR Regulations.
The anonymous complaints, according to Infosys, are still being investigated, and the company is not in a position to determine the concreteness, credibility and materiality of the complaints.