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I'm not party to settlement: Phaneesh Murthy
Fakir Chand in Bangalore |
May 11, 2003 19:32 IST
Primentor founder Phaneesh Murthy has declared that he was not party to the out-of-court settlement reached by Infosys with a former employee Reka Maximovitch in the sexual harassment lawsuit. In a statement mailed to rediff.com on Sunday from his US office at Fremont in California, Murthy said it might not have been the route he would have liked to take to settle the issue and hence was not a party to this settlement.
It was one way of handling the issue, he said.
"From the company's point of view, there may be pressure to close this chapter early, particularly when they are going in for an American Depository Shares (ADS) issue, in which considerable sums are at stake."
"The episode is behind us now and we need to move ahead both personally and professionally," Murthy added.
"Regarding the mention of right to legal action against me, this is in retaliation to my lawyers initiating proceedings to retrieve my paid-for shares, which Infosys is withholding, and as a result of which I have suffered significant financial losses," Murthy stated.
Infosys chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy, however, told the media in Bangalore, "Phaneesh has consented to the agreement though there is no contribution from him to the $3million payment to be made to the plaintiff."
It may be recalled that Infosys had filed papers with the United States' Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January regarding an offering of its ADSs to overseas investors.
The Nasdaq-listed firm had decided to offer between 4-6 million ADSs.