Australia Government Reviews Infosys Contract Following Leak Of Documents
Bengaluru, 20th December 2022: According to Australian media outlets, a cache of stolen documents purport to demonstrate how Stuart Robert (federal Liberal MP) coordinated with consulting firm Synergy360 (owned by friends of Robert) to grant access to important customers, including Infosys and Unisys. This is then said to have led to Infosys getting a significant government contract.
To see if there was any unlawful activity involved, the government is investigating the sale. The government services minister, Bill Shorten, has previously stated that it is corruption for MPs to use their positions of power to “enrich private mates.”
The Australian Federal Government’s Services awarded a contract to Infosys over Accenture and IBM to modernise the entitlement calculation engine for its welfare system. According to the publication’s report on the stolen documents, Synergy 360 allegedly convened meetings for Unisys company personnel at Margerison’s Gold Coast residence with Robert and Milo in 2017.
Synergy 360 billed Unisys for “meetings organised for Unisys worldwide CEO Peter Altabeff in Canberra – Meetings confirmed with Hon Minister Dutton on 29th November 2017 and closed-door Committee Briefing 30th November 2017,” according to emails from late 2017.
With the help of the ECE project, which Infosys was awarded, Services Australia was able to execute policy changes faster for the benefit of Australians while minimising operating costs. In 2019, Infosys won a $18.4 million initial contract before winning an additional $71.6 million for the government programme Centrelink’s new payment settlement. Infosys is said to have earned a contract worth over $135 million from Services Australia and other governmental organisations.
