Cognizant will pay $28 million to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to settle an alleged corruption issue in India.
The corruption issue is related to payments for permits and licenses for certain real estate facilities in India. Cognizant did not reveal more details.
The Cognizant statement did not say that whether it violated the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other applicable laws or not. The payment will resolve all of the DOJ and SEC investigations into Cognizant.
Francisco D’Souza, CEO of Cognizant, said: “Both the DOJ and SEC recognized that we voluntarily notified US authorities of the potential issues in India more than two years ago, and cooperated with their investigations”
Cognizant said it undertook an internal investigation under the oversight of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, with the assistance of outside counsel. It also made further enhancements to compliance processes, procedures and resources.
The company settled with the SEC by consenting to the entry of an administrative order. DOJ declined to take any further action against the company citing the company’s voluntary and prompt self-reporting, comprehensive investigation, compliance enhancements, and significant cooperation.
