Infosys refutes charges of having been awarded “tainted govt contracts” in Australian parliamentary hearing

The Indian IT major said it was not aware of anything that departs from the company’s “integrity, transparency” during the inquiry into allegations that it gained federal contracts awarded to key clients of a Canberra-based consulting firm Synergy 360, which is linked to former Australian lawmaker Stuart Robert.

Testifying at the hearing, Infosys executive vice-president for Asia Pacific region, Andrew Groth said the Bengaluru-headquartered firm paid Synergy 360 about $16 million approximately over five years. Of this, 70% was towards delivery work to build systems and staffing capabilities, 15% went into business development campaigns and 15% was for “success fees”.

Infosys, however, no longer pays success fees, Groth told the committee. “ The company’s code of conduct, dealing with integrity and transparency is “absolutely core to our business and…I’m not aware of anything that departs from that,” he said.

Australia’s Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit has been investigating possible “tainted contracts” following allegations that Robert assisted Synergy 360 and its client, Infosys, to bag government contracts. It was hearing charges that Synergy 360, reportedly transferred profits to a trust where Robert was a beneficiary.

The Sydney Morning Herald and the Guardian were the first to report the development.

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Infosys said on Friday that it ended its relationship with Synergy 360 and claimed the consulting firmdidn’t want to register as a lobbyist organization in the public register.In response to ET’s emailed queries on the development, Infosys said the company “is committed to the highest level of compliance, integrity and ethical business practices across markets in which it operates. We are cooperating with the Australian parliamentary inquiry in good faith. It is important to note that the ECE contract being referenced resulted from a 14-month long stringent government procurement process as per the Australian Government procurement framework.”

The process included government-appointed pricing and probity consultants and government legal counsel to ensure an unbiased selection process, the IT firm added.

“We have been conducting business in Australia for over 20 years. We are proud of the work we do for the Government of Australia, and our other clients, and committed to our code of conduct, dealing with integrity and transparency in every aspect of our business,” Infosys stated.

Last December, the Australian parliament said it would review the government contracts awarded to key clients of Synergy 360.

At the hearing on Friday, Groth said he had met with MP Robert eleven times on the request of the lawmaker to be kept informed about the progress of a specific project to upgrade the IT systems at the government’s welfare payments department. Robert was then serving as the country’s services minister.

Infosys was selected for the project after an elaborate 14-month procurement process, Groth added.

Robert earlier refuted the allegations and said he had “zero involvement” and that departmental procurement was conducted with the “highest levels of probity”. He retired from the Gold Coast parliamentary seat last month.