Infy yet to crack Panaya puzzle

Mumbai: The Panaya Phantom continues to haunt Infosys - and attempts by the board of the $10-billion software giant to inch towards some form of closure are being badly stymied.

On Monday, former CFO Mohandas Pai - one of two close confidants of founder NR Narayana Murthy - gave a clear indication that they would not back down from their original demand for a full release of the investigation reports into the Panaya buyout.

Pai was in no mood to accept Infosys board director Kiran Mazumar-Shaw's plea on Sunday to Murthy and his men to abandon their hardline stand on the Panaya issue, especially after new chairman Nandan Nilekani had also said there was no wrongdoing in the acquisition.

On Sunday, Shaw had tweeted: "The matters were reinvestigated (a)n(d) no wrong doings were found by new Chairman.. Let's bring this to a closure and move on... It helps no one."

"If no wrong doing (has been) found, please release the report of the re-investigation! Why hide this? Why hide the Panaya report and say no wrong doing! Why hide all reports? Where is the transparency! Then you folks abuse NRN (N. R. Narayana Murthy) when he seeks transparency and write to SE (stock exchanges)," Pai tweeted in response on Monday.

The Panaya issue is closely linked to the Rs 17 crore severance package that Sikka had offered former CFO Rajiv Bansal who had originally red flagged the deal. Bansal left the company in October 2016 - and Murthy has since questioned the size of the payoff to Bansal.

After co-founder Nilekani found no evidence of wrong doing on Sikka's part, it was thought that Murthy would accept that verdict and the whole issue would die down.

Last week, Infosys filed an application with Sebi seeking to settle through the consent route the disclosure lapses relating to the severance package paid to Bansal.

But it is now clear that Murthy will not relent on his two demands: a full disclosure of the Panaya investigation reports; and the removal of certain directors from the board.

While Pai voiced the view on the Panaya disclosure, Balakrishnan has kept up pressure on the Infosys board by demanding the removal of Ravi Venkatesan and Roopa Kudva from the board.

Kudva was the chairperson of the audit committee and had been charged by Murthy with refusing to reveal why Bansal had been offered such a generous package. However, Venkatesan was supposedly close to Murthy and his sudden fall from grace is less easy to understand.

One reason could be the August 18 press release that the Infosys board issued when Sikka resigned.

Murthy and his friends felt insulted by the tone and tenor of the note, which had slammed them for amplifying "demonstrably false allegations which harmed employee morale and contributed to the loss of the... valued CEO".