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ServiceMesh man Eric Pulier resigns from CSC amid bribery claims

CSC freezes acquisition fund as it expects some ServiceMesh revenue may be binned

Eric Pulier, the co-founder of CSC prey ServiceMesh and CSC general manager of cloud has left CSC.

Pulier left after it was revealed he allegedly paid bribes to executives at Australia's Commonwealth Bank.

CSC sent The Reg the following statement about Pulier's departure:

On March 26, 2015 Eric Pulier was notified that his actions involving payments from the ACE Foundation—an organization founded by Mr. Pulier and not related to CSC—to former IT executives of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, a CSC client, violated CSC's code of conduct related to conflicts of interests and appearance of improprieties. Mr. Pulier was further notified that these violations were grounds for termination of his employment.

Under Mr. Pulier’s retention agreement with CSC, he was allowed a 30-day period following the March 26 notice to cure these violations. It became apparent that these violations would not be cured by Mr. Pulier and that his employment termination would occur on April 25, 2015. On April 23, 2015, without consulting CSC, Mr. Pulier submitted his resignation.

The Reg has also learned that CSC has frozen a US$25 million “indemnity escrow” established when CSC acquired ServiceMesh. The freeze has been applied because CSC feels it is likely some ServiceMesh contracts and revenue should not been counted when assessing payments due during the earn-out phase of the acquisition. The company is concerned it may have over-payed some ServiceMesh execs, so is holding on to the cash while it sorts things out and awaits possible legal action.

CSC says it continues to co-operate with all investigating authorities considering the relationship between ServiceMesh and the Commonwealth Bank.

The USA's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prohibits US corporations from bribing offshore companies, so investigations could conceivably be under way in the US. Just how far CSC's liability extends to cover ServiceMesh's alleged Australian activities is not clear, but the company could well find itself having to explain itself in multiple jurisdictions before this one is filed away. ®

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