Rocked by bribes-for-jobs scandal, TCS names new hiring head as probe continues
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd has appointed Sivakumar Viswanathan as a new head to oversee the hiring of temporary workers amid an internal investigation into the bribes-for-jobs scandal, which has resulted in the dismissal of at least 15 executives and the blacklisting of eight staffing firms, HT’s sister website Livemint reported.
The change of hiring executive comes after a whistleblower reportedly flagged off unethical hiring practices in an email to TCS’s top brass alleging that many executives had been taking commissions from staffing firms for years.
In response to it, India’s largest IT services firm set up a panel to probe the allegations. It sent the global head of the technology major’s Resource Management Group (RMG), ES Chakravarthy on leave, sacked four executives of the recruitment group and blacklisted three staffing firms.
Who is Sivakumar Viswanathan?
TCS has placed Viswanathan as the new head of RMG in place of Chakravarthy.
Viswanathan, based in Chennai, has been in the company since August 1993, counting around 30 years now. He is said to be a trusted lieutenant of new chief executive officer K. Krithivasan.
TCS’s response to the bribe allegations
TCS has not yet acknowledged the claims completely. “We probed the allegations made in the complaint and found out that the charges do not involve any fraud by or against the company, and financial impact. The reference to the alleged scam is incorrect,” TCS said in a statement on Friday, Mint reported.
However, the country’s largest private sector employer has reportedly fired 15 employees from RMG divisions in the United States, Canada, and India’s Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
It is also doing a thorough examination of all the staffing firms with whom it works.
The commissions involved in the scandal are reported to be worth at least ₹100 crore.
