FBI questioned L&T CEO in Cognizant bribery case

livemint.com:

BENGALURU : The outcome of the US government’s trial of two former Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. executives in a bribery case in India could be a pivotal moment for Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Ltd’s chief executive officer (CEO) S.N. Subrahmanyan, who, in an undertaking to officials of the US department of justice (DoJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), denied any involvement of India’s largest construction company in the illicit payments.

Subrahmanyan, who became CEO in July 2017, was “formally interviewed" in Singapore on 21 May 2018, by officials from the US Attorney’s Office and FBI, according to a court filing in New Jersey made earlier this month by the defence counsel of Gordon Coburn, the former chief operating officer of Cognizant. This is the first time three executives of L&T have been named in the more than four-year-old court case titled USA V Coburn et al. The next date of the case hearing is set for 2 October.

Coburn, who resigned from Cognizant in October 2016, has sought the court’s approval for the statements given by Subrahmanyan and two other L&T executives to be admitted as part of the defence evidence. “During the KITS project (Knowledge Industry Township in Chennai), Subrahmanyan was the head of Total Construction (division) and handled 60% of the operations of L&T. Ramamoorthy, the US government’s cooperating witness, stated that Subrahmanyan was involved in approving the improper payment by L&T to the Indian government official.