Ex-Cognizant COO to pay $50,000 penalty in bribery case

US market regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has directed former Cognizant chief operating officer Sridhar Thiruvengadam to pay a civil penalty of $50,000 (over Rs 35 lakh) in a bribery case related to the tech company.

Thiruvengadam, the then COO of US-based Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, had participated in a scheme with three other Cognizant executives to authorise payment of a $2 million bribe on behalf of the company to a government official in India, an SEC document dated September 13 showed.

The payment was made in response to an official’s demand to secure the issuance of a planning permit that was necessary for the construction of a commercial office facility in Chennai.