Cognizant bribery case: US seeks deposition of L&T chair SN Subrahmanyan, others
livemint.comMint. India’s ministry of home affairs had rejected the US State Department’s letter of rogatory or formal request sent in March last year, show court filings reviewed by Mint. This prompted the US Department of Justice to seek help from its Indian counterpart under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the two countries.
The MLAT request was made on 11 January but disclosed in court filings in July for the first time by a lawyer for former Cognizant chief operating officer Gordon Coburn, who sought the postponement of the trial from September to March next year. Coburn resigned from Cognizant in October 2016 when the information technology company informed American authorities that some payments made in India could have breached the US’ Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The law prohibits US citizens and entities from bribing foreign government officials.
“As the Indian government has refused to process the letters rogatory authorized by this Court, the sole means to compel testimony from these witnesses is through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) between the United States and India," Coburn’s attorney, James P. Loonam, a partner at New York-headquartered law firm Jones Day, said in a submission. “Without question, evidence fundamental to a fair trial, in this case, is located in India." The filing, dated 15 July, was made in a court in New Jersey.
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