Case registered against Cognizant, L&T, unknown govt officials for bribery

On April 19, the sessions court here had directed the ACB to investigate the alleged $ 7,70,00 bribery case

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Maharashtra Police has registered an offence against officials of IT major Cognizant Technologies, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and unknown government officials in an alleged $ 7,70,00 bribery case.

On April 19, the sessions court here had directed the ACB to investigate allegations against Cognizant Technologies that it paid a bribe through its construction contractor (L&T) to local government officials to secure necessary permits and environmental clearances for its campus at Hinjawadi on the city's outskirts between 2013 and 2014.

The offence was registered against officials of Cognizant Technologies; Manikandan Rammurthy, former vice president (administration and real estate officer, Cognizant, India), then officials of L&T, and unknown government officials who had accepted the bribe under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the ACB said in a release.

The court had passed the order on April 19 on a complaint filed by Delhi-based environmental activist and retired police officer Prit Pal Singh through his lawyer Pratik Rajopadhye.

The complaint relied on proceedings of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) of the USA against Cognizant Technology Private Ltd's parent firm Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, USA regarding alleged bribing and violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Additional Sessions Judge S B Hedaoo had stated that as reference to the alleged transaction was found in the US SEC order, there was sufficient material to forward the complaint to the ACB Pune.

Unless an offence was registered against the unknown government officers involved in the alleged bribery, "this matter would not move even inch further", the court had observed, adding that without an urgent investigation, evidence in the company's computers may vanish.

As per the complaint, the contractor firm L&T which constructed the software firm's Hinjawadi and Chennai offices informed Cognizant that bribes were required to be paid to government officials at both places to obtain necessary clearances.

Cognizant, USA and its Indian subsidiary allegedly agreed to this, the complaint said.

In 2013-14, $ 7,70,000 were reimbursed by the Indian subsidiary company to the contractor firm (which had allegedly paid the bribe of the same amount on its behalf) with regard to the Pune campus, the complaint claimed, citing the US SEC order.