Bribes-for-jobs scandal rocks TCS, four sacked for corruption

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, which added about 50,000 people on average annually in the past three years, has been rocked by a scandal after the technology major discovered that a few senior executives entrusted with hiring thousands of critical personnel accepted bribes from staffing firms, compromising the recruitment process.

- Varun Sood

BENGALURU: While the exact details of the scam are sketchy, two executives aware of the developments said a whistleblower, in a communication to TCS’s chief executive officer and chief operating officer, alleged that E.S. Chakravarthy, the global head of TCS’s resource management group (RMG), the company’s recruitment division, had been accepting commissions from staffing firms for years.

Following the complaint, the company promptly set up a team of three executives, including the firm’s chief information security officer, Ajit Menon, to probe the allegations.

After weeks of investigation, TCS sent the head of recruitment on leave, sacked four executives from RMG, and blacklisted three staffing firms. Although the company is yet to ascertain the scale of the irregularities, one of the two executives cited above said people involved in the scam may have earned at least ₹100 crore through commissions.

Mint could not independently ascertain the names of the staffing firms that have been blacklisted.