Cooperating with Oz parliamentary panel on contract probe: Infosys

Major IT company Infosys said it was cooperating with an Australian parliamentary committee investigating possible “tainted contracts” after allegations that former minister Stuart Rupert helped pressure Synergy 360 and its client, Infosys, into winning government contracts.

“Infosys is committed to the highest level of compliance, integrity and ethical business practices across the markets in which it operates. We are cooperating with the Australian Parliamentary Inquiry Committee in good faith,” Infosys said in a statement to Business Standard.

Media reports in Australia alleged that Infosys paid Synergy 360 $16 million over five years to help it grow the company’s business with the Australian government. Synergy 360 allegedly helped its clients meet Robert in order to win some of the country’s largest IT government contracts.

A report by the Sydney Morning Herald said: “Infosys became a major supplier to Services Australia in November 2019 when it won the ECE (Entitlement Calculation Engine) contract to tackle income support, an ambitious idea to transform the payment system from an aging mainframe. Infosys struggled to deliver results and chose the federal agency Later on doing a lot of the work herself.”

Infosys said the contract in question resulted from a rigorous government procurement process that took 14 months under the formal framework.

“This included government-appointed pricing and integrity advisors and the government’s legal advisor to ensure an unbiased selection process.”

Andrew Groth, executive vice president of Infosys, on Friday told the Joint Committee on Public Accounting and Auditing (JCPAA) that the company is working with Synergy 360 to grow its government business, and to help design, build and deliver IT solutions.

“We’ve been working to seize opportunities across the state government and the federal government.”

Groth told the committee that Infosys was no longer working with Synergy 360 and he was not aware of anything untoward.