TCS Yet To Clarify Reports Of Whistleblower Complaint On ‘Recruitment Scam’

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. has received a whistleblower complaint regarding hiring through "subcontracting", people aware of the matter told BQ Prime without elaborating further.

The company is yet to disclose the whistleblower complaint to the stock exchanges. It is also not known if it has been referred to the chairman of TCS's audit committee.

The disclosure depends on whether the complaint is material to the earnings of the company, one of the persons cited above said. All spoke on the condition of anonymity.

TCS is yet to respond to media reports alleging a multi-crore recruitment scam. According to the Mint newspaper, the alleged scam that compromised the hiring process at India’s biggest private employer has come to light.

A whistleblower, in a communication to TCS’ chief executive officer and chief operating officer, alleged that a senior executive in the recruitment division Resource Management Group had been accepting bribes from staffing firms for years, Mint reported citing two executives aware of the developments.

Following the complaint, TCS set up a team of three executives, including the firm’s Chief Information Security Officer Ajit Menon, to probe the allegations, the report stated.

After weeks of investigation, TCS sent the head of recruitment on leave, sacked four executives from the Resource Management Group, and blacklisted three staffing firms. Although the company is yet to ascertain the scale of the irregularities, one of the two executives cited above said people involved in the scam may have earned Rs 100 crore through commissions, Mint reported.

BQ Prime has sent an email to TCS seeking comment on the matter. A response is awaited.

This “recruitment scam”, a first of its kind at TCS, comes after Krithi Krithivasan took over as the chief executive officer on June 1. Major corporations like TCS are expected to have robust safeguards to prevent corruption that could hamper operations and sully their image.

On Friday, shares of TCS fell 0.66% to Rs 3,217.45 apiece compared with a 0.41% decline in benchmark Sensex.