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Bangalore , Oct. 5

FORMER Infosys employee and director Mr Phaneesh Murthy has termed the latest sexual harassment suit against him as "baseless and complete garbage" with an intention to make money.

A former employee of Infosys Technologies in the US, Ms Jennifer Griffith in a lawsuit filed in the superior court of California on September 30, alleged that Mr Murthy sexually harassed her while she was an employee of the company.

This is the second such case against Mr Murthy. In a previous case, Infosys in May 2003 settled an out-of-the-court sexual harassment case filed in July 2002 by another former employee, Ms Reka Maximovitch by paying around $3 million.

Mr Murthy in a conference call said that the lawyers for Ms Griffith are the same who filed the case for Ms Maximovitch. "I am extremely outraged and appalled. I want to fight the hell out of this case," Mr Murthy said. He said there was a clear intent on the part of Ms Griffith to make money out of the allegations. "I also feel that that going by the fact that the previous case was settled publicly, this could have been a motivation for her," he said. Mr Murthy said there are a number of contingency lawyers in the US who split the money out of the damage awarded to their client.

Infosys in a statement said that it learnt about the case on October 3. "... that Ms Jennifer Griffith, a former employee, has filed a lawsuit against the company and Mr Phaneesh Murthy, its former officer and director. The lawsuit has been filed in the Superior Court of California, Alameda County, and generally alleges that Mr Phaneesh Murthy sexually harassed Ms Griffith while she was employed at Infosys," the statement said.

"The lawsuit has not yet been served on the company and Infosys is still reviewing the complainant's allegations. Based on its present knowledge of the facts, the lawsuit will not, in the opinion of management, have a material effect on the results of operations or the financial position of the company," the statement said. Infosys is set to declare its second quarterly results for the current fiscal on October 10.

In its statement, iGate Global Solutions, where Mr Murthy is currently employed as a Chief Executive Officer, said it has come to the notice of Mr Murthy that Ms Griffith, a former employee, who left the services of Infosys weeks after Mr Murthy's resignation from that company, has filed a lawsuit against him and Infosys for sexual harassment.

The lawsuit has not yet been served on Mr Murthy. However, it is Mr Murthy's opinion and belief that the allegations are baseless and it is the most blatant example of taking advantage of the public news of a prior settlement," the statement said.

"Phaneesh had made us aware of the possibility of this development, and we have done our due diligence and believe the allegations to be without foundation. We have complete confidence in Phaneesh," the iGate Chairman, Mr Sunil Wadhwani, said.

Mr Murthy said that he received the first communication from Mr Griffith's lawyers soon after Infosys made an offer to settle the case with Ms Maximovitch. The second communication was made after Infosys made the final settlement and the third communication came after Mr Murthy took over as the CEO of iGate Global Solutions. He said the communications said that Ms Griffith would like to know whether Mr Murthy would like to settle the case out of court.

Mr Murthy said he does not know Ms Griffith very well. She undertook an assignment with him between four to six weeks when she did a "writing job" for him. Mr Murthy said he used to dictate to her his thoughts on a paper he was working on. "I didn't know her. I didn't like her. Her performance was very poor," Mr Murthy said. He said her immediate superior did not find her work good and she protested the poor ratings she received.

Mr Murthy said that he had revealed the case against him to the management of the current company soon after he took over as the CEO.

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