Former Employees of Cognizant Files Lawsuit Against Board Members - Latest Report On It! 

Days after a former employee of IT services provider Cognizant filed a lawsuit suing current and former board members as well as key executives for allegedly misleading shareholders about a bribery scandal in India has been voluntarily dismissed by him.

As per an Economic Times report, a court notice which was reviewed by the recognized media house said; “Plaintiff Ravindra Guyyala voluntarily dismisses his claims…without prejudice."

In the petition, names of former CEO Francisco D'Souza, current CFO Karen McLoughlin, former president Gordon Coburn, and former chief legal officer Steven E. Schwartz and board members, including current CEO Brian Humphries, as defendants were mentioned in Ravindra Guyyala's lawsuit. 

According to ET, Guyyala had alleged that the executives and board members breached duties by issuing false, misleading statements and omitting material information in the company’s public filings about the bribe payments to get approval for the  construction of a new campus in Chennai.

The story dates back to 2014, when Cognizant had allegedly authorised a contractor to pay a $2 million bribe to a senior government official to issue a planning permit for its new campus in the southern Indian city. 

The payment, along with a scheme to conceal a $2.5 million reimbursement to the contractor, was authorised by two senior executives at Cognizant's US headquarters, according to the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), which investigated the matter between 2014 and 2016, ET further reports. 

Media reports further state that the executives, including former Cognizant president Gordon Coburn, resigned in 2016. After which in 2019, Cognizant settled the charges with the SEC without admitting or denying the allegations.

The IT major also later agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of approximately $19 million and a penalty of $6 million, ET finally states.