As the rift between founders and its Board widens at Infosys, its former CFO V Balakrishnan today said an interim chairman should be appointed at the earliest to "effectively" engage with its billionaire co-founders.
Demanding that Chairman Ramaswami Seshasayee steps down, Balakrishnan said the Chairman should take responsibility for the "lapses" in corporate governance at the Bengaluru-based company.
"I think the founders had raised certain issues on governance, which had happened in the last two years and I said the right way for the Board...is not to take a confrontation approach.
"Somebody has to take responsibility for all the lapses.
That is why I had suggested chairman stepping down, getting an interim chairman and effectively engaging with founders and come to a conclusion," he told PTI in an interview.
Balakrishnan -- who worked with Infosys for over two decades -- seemed to be espousing the grouse of co-founders NR Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani and others, who together own 13 per cent of the company.
Some of the co-founders have publicly aired concerns about CEO Vishal Sikka's USD 11 million pay and expensive severance packages for former executives, Rajiv Bansal (CFO) and David Kennedy (General Counsel).
"...there seems to be a lack of trust between the Board and the founders...Whenever a large shareholder in any public company raises some concerns, Boards generally talk to the shareholders directly, take its concern on board and address those concerns. Here you have the company (Infosys) appointing a law firm to mediate. I don't see any company doing that," he said.
He added that the "best way to restart" is for the chairman to step down, get an interim chairman and talking to the founders and addressing all the issues.
"If required, re-constitute the board and move on," he said adding that this kind of a "public spat" is always a distraction for any company that affects the morale of employees and client sentiments.
Asked about his views on the Board backing Seshasayee, Balakrishnan said: "I don't know whether the Board is fully backing him (Seshasayee) because at the end of the day, the issue is that there are large shareholders who are not ordinary shareholders, who are iconic founders who built the company." "They raised some issues of governance and I think the Board should address that. You cannot hide behind the fact that no we are all together, we are following practices," he said.
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