Heads roll at Infosys after services firm discovered BPO division was overcharging Apple

CFO and CEO of BPO Unit are the first to go as Infosys makes an example of employees

The back-office services unit of Indian outsourcing company Infosys has reportedly been overcharging Apple, leading to several top executives including the CFO leaving the company, two senior Infosys employees told Reuters.

The firm said that it had fired the CFO of its BPO unit for failure to comply with the company's code of conduct, while the chief of its BPO division, Gautam Thakkar, has resigned, and will leave the company officially on November 30.

But the company may not be finished there when it comes to ensuring that many of the BPO team pay the price for this episode. The Economic Times reports that the axe will be wielded on six more employees at one of Infosys BPO's European subsidiaries, according to sources familiar with the company's strategy.

The sources went on to claim that the amount involved was "financially insignificant" but that the company wanted to make an example of the staff to ensure that an episode like this did not occur again.

It was suggested by a source familiar with the investigation that a small team of executives had made inflated invoices for Infosys' BPO services, but it is unknown whether these had then been sent to Apple.

A source told Reuters that the irregularities in Infosys BPO's dealings with its marquee client, Apple, came out during an internal audit. Thereafter, the firm undertook a month-long investigation into the matter.

According to an Infosys spokesperson the financial irregularities are "not material in nature and the company has already made the required disclosures".

"The company has taken disciplinary action on employees," the spokesperson added, before declining to comment further.

Earlier this year, Infosys named former SAP AG executive Vishal Sikka as its new chief executive. It was the first time that the company, based in Bengaluru, had hired a non-founder as its CEO.