TCS sacks 16 employees, bars 6 vendors involved in bribes-for-jobs scam

BENGALURU: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Sunday revealed it had sacked 16 employees and blacklisted six staffing firms, after its investigation into the bribes-for-jobs scandal.

In an exchange filing, the company said that its "investigation found 19 employees to be involved, and action has been taken against all as detailed here - 16 employees have been separated from the company for code of conduct violations, and three employees have been removed from the resource management function".

The IT major also debarred six vendor entities, their owners and affiliates "from doing any business with TCS".

Further, TCS said it would continue to enhance its governance measures, including a) regular rotation of personnel performing key roles in the resource management function, b) enhanced analytics on supplier management, c) periodic declarations by vendors on compliance with the Tata Code of Conduct and know your supplier process to cover additional declarations, and d) Vendor management process audits.

In a post-earnings interaction with reporters last week, TCS Chief Executive K. Krithivasan said: "We have completed our investigation. We have taken appropriate action against whosoever had violated the code of conduct. All actions have been taken, and it is closed."

In June, reports surfaced that TCS had discovered within its ranks a multi- crore recruitment scam that compromised the hiring process at the Tata Group firm.

Some employees of TCS accepted bribes from staffing companies and hired personnel -- bribes for jobs.

According to reports, the scam went on for some time and the amount involved was as high as about Rs 100 crore. This led to the company sacking four officials from its resource management group (RMG) and banning three staffing firms.

In the wake of the TCS job scandal, the Indian Staffing Federation (ISF) in a statement had said it has a robust due diligence process that precedes the acceptance of any staffing company as our member.

"We urge all stakeholders, including corporates and the government, to consider engaging staffing companies that prioritise ethical employment practices and regulatory compliance," the ISF said.