Seshasayee hits back at Infosys founder Murthy

Terming Infosys Founder N.R. Narayana Murthy's charges against him "patently false", its former non-executive Chairman R. Seshasayee on Friday said it was offensive to give an impression that he had lied to the shareholders.

"Murthy's statement to the investors forces me to ... defend myself against personal attacks and patently false and slanderous accusations," said Seshasayee in a joint statement with Infosys Board's former Independent Directors Jeffery Lehman and John Etchemendy.

"Since my resignation from the Board, I kept away from making any public statement, despite provocation, since I want the company to move forward, and not be bogged down with the issues of the past," said Seshasayee.

Seshasayaee, 69, resigned from the Board on August 24 along with Executive Vice Chairman and former CEO Vishal Sikka, Lehman and Etchemendy to pave way for the return of co-founder Nandan Nilekani as the non-executive Chairman.

Asserting that he was always candid and truthful in all statements concerning the IT major, Seshasayee said Murthy's statement misleadingly attributed words to him and were taken out of context, making it appear that he was not stating the truth.

"To quote an anonymous whistle-blower letter that alleged many things, which have subsequently been proved baseless and false through multiple investigations by highly respected counsel, in order to give an impression to the audience that I lied to the shareholders, is patently offensive," said Seshasayee.