Infosys has reportedly filed a counter-claim of over £10 million against former CFO Rajiv Bansal for alleged breach of confidentiality agreements. Shriram Subramanian, founder of corporate governance advisory firm InGovern Research Services, said there could be claims and counter-claims in the arbitration hearing and one cannot respond to hearsay unless the outcome of the arbitration proceedings is known.
The update comes after the second hearing in the arbitration proceedings between the two parties in January in Bengaluru. The first was held in December. Bansal had contested Infosys' decision to suspend the payment of about of £1.2 million of the severance pay that was promised to him at the time of his leaving in 2015. The multinational had agreed to pay Bansal £1.74 million as severance, however, had disbursed only £500,000, halting the remaining payment on grounds that he had not met some of his obligations.
Earlier last year, he invoked his rights to an arbitral tribunal and former Supreme Court judge RV Raveendran was appointed as sole arbitrator in April. Over the past several months, various submissions have been made to the tribunal by both the parties. Law firm Indus Law is representing Bansal, and Nishith Desai Associates is Infosys’ counsel. The Arbitration Act mandates that a decision must be made within one year from the date of constitution of the arbitral tribunal.
