Satyam Computers founder and chairman Ramalinga Raju has resigned from the company.The company's managing director B Rama Raju has also resigned.
In the country's biggest corporate fraud involving about Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion), iconic IT company Satyam was today hurtling towards disaster following the shocking disclosure of accounts fudging by its founder Ramalinga Raju, who then quit as chairman - leaving an uncertain future for the company and its 53,000 employees.
CII believes there is a need to immediately examine the loopholes in regulation, accounting, audit and governance that allowed such lapses to occur and address them with urgency. While the occurrence of such events in a major company is a matter of deep regret, CII believes it would be inappropriate for this to be the basis of questioning of general governance standards in other companies.
The National Association of Software and Services Companies, the apex body of the IT-BPO industry in India, on Wednesday expressed shock at the disclosures made by Satyam Computer Services chairman B Ramalinga Raju.
Infrastructure major IL&FS has replaced the B Ramalinga Raju family as promoters of crisis-hit Maytas Infra and will pump in Rs 55 crore (Rs 55 million) to revive the company.
Breaking his silence on the embarrassing developments over the last two weeks, Raju said in an open letter to employees that 'please be assured that the Board and the leadership team are doing everything that's possible to get Satyam back on track'.
Satyam Computer on Monday sank deeper into a crisis with two more directors quitting the board and the company announced that lenders were possibly selling promoters' equity that is entirely pledged with them.
Foxnews.com on Tuesday reported that the World Bank ban started in September this year "due to alleged malpractice's including bribery". The news report said the World Bank debarment -- the harshest sanction ever made by the bank since 2004 -- was meted out for 'improper benefit to bank staff' and 'lack of documentation on invoices'.When contacted, a Satyam spokesperson said that "the company does not comment on individual clients".
Satyam Computer Services did not consult Mendu Rammohan Rao, dean of the Indian School of Business and an independent director on the board of India's fourth largest IT services provider, when it called off the deal to acquire Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties following shareholder protests. Rao had chaired the board meeting that endorsed the company's proposal to buy the two firms linked to the family of Satyam's founder and chairman B Ramalinga Raju.
Satyam Computer Services on Wednesday announced that it is not going ahead with its proposed acquisition of Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra, in light of the feedback received from the Investor community.
The special court, hearing the Rs 7100-crore (Rs 71-billion) financial scam, wants to examine all accused in the case over charges mentioned against them by the CBI.
The Andhra Pradesh government will review the concession agreement it has signed with Maytas-led consortium for developing the Machilipatnam Port as the winning bidder for the over Rs 1,500-crore (Rs 15 billion) project has failed to tie up funds within the stipulated time.
After charge-sheeting Ramalinga Raju and others in the multi-crore rupee accounting fraud at Satyam, the Central Bureau of Investigation is trying to ascertain the role of 'hawala' operators who allegedly brought in crores of rupees from abroad.
A local court on Thursday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct lie-detector and brain mapping tests on Satyam Computer founder B Ramalinga Raju and two others to help unravel the multi-crore accounting scam in the IT firm.
The company failed to achieve financial closure for the Rs 12,100-crore (Rs 121 billion) metro project in March and had sought extension of the deadline by another six months. The decision on it is pending with the state government. Doubts were also expressed about its capabilities to execute the Rs 1,650-crore (Rs 16.5 billion) Machilipatnam project.
The family of B Ramalinga Raju, the main accused in the multi-crore fraud at Satyam Computer, has approached a local court seeking a direction to de-freeze bank accounts and return seized electronic items.
The compulsory peer reviews of auditors' notes for Sensex and Nifty companies for Q3 results of the last fiscal and full-year results of 2007-08 have proved a virtual non-starter, owing to confusion over its scope and the appointment of auditors.
The jury members included Ashish Dhawan, senior managing director, ChrysCapital, Keki Dadiseth, managing director, Omnicom, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon, Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman and managing director, Aditya Birla Group and S Ramadorai, chief executive, TCS.
The XIV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on Wednesday reserved the order on the bail petitions of former Satyam chairman B Ramalinga Raju, his brother Rama Raju and ex-CFO Vadlamani Srinivas for April 25.
The jury is still out on whether Tech Mahindra should retain the Satyam name. Srinivasan Swamy, CMD, R K Swamy BBDO, says. "Brand Satyam took a beating for only one reason -- accounting irregularities by its erstwhile chairman. The employees were not even aware of the fraud. The company's core values and foundation have not been impacted." The task for the new management, he believes, is to retain its clients and people and the brand image would get resurrected.
The CBI charges in the accounting fraud pertain to conspiracy, cheating, forgery, falsification of records and causing disappearance of evidence. There is no charge of misappropriation of funds. Of the Rs 715 crore made, Ramalinga Raju got Rs 27.91 crore and his brother and Satyam's former managing director, B Rama Raju, got Rs 26.68 crore, in the form of gifts from family, said the CBI. Besides, the Satyam founder 'offloaded the shares and received Rs 26,67,97,198.'
Ironically, the laws of the land seem to have given him breathing time from the interrogation of various investigation agencies, which plunged into action soon after the Rs 7,800 crore (Rs 78 billion) scam was exposed.
The second charge sheet may highlight some more financial transaction made by Raju and some of his associates.
The newly appointed (by the government) board members, O P Vaish and Ved Jain, said the company and its lenders were expected to reach an agreement in this regard by March 25. The board met in Hyderabad under the chairmanship of Vaish and sought information on the state of the company and the various projects it was implementing and negotiating. Vice-Chairman B Teja Raju and Additional Director B Narasimha Rao were present.
The Fox News in an online report quoted a spokesman for the UN Secretariat as saying that "one direct contract it (UN Secretariat) had with Satyam is to be terminated."
The company has a total of 34,000 employees globally.
Within hours of Company Law Board orders, the government on Thursday appointed its nominees on the boards of Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties, the companies promoted by the kin of disgraced founder of the Satyam Computer Services B Ramalinga Raju.
The XIV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Hyderabad on Wednesday posted to March 6 hearing on the petition of CBI seeking custody of Satyam's former Chairman B Ramalinga Raju and four others.
Of the approximately 11,000 employees of Satyam USA, 7,000 are on H1B visas, says Mathew Daniel, a vice president of US operations with the company.
CBI on Wednesday announced that it will set up a multi-dimensional team to probe the 'unique' fraud, which involves Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju and his family members. While the spokesman remained evasive to questions on when the cases would be registered, CBI sources said records and other materials associated with the probe was being taken over by the agency.
The company aims to book a profit of over Rs 250 crore from the open market sale, said two sources familiar with the development.
Earlier, the Sebi had interrogated and recorded the statement of Raju and his brother and Rama Raju for three days from February 4 in Chanchalguda Jail. In a petition filed in the court of 6th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, the I-T department sought three days time to examine and record the statement of Raju.
Top Satyam executives accelerated sales of their shares in the company in close to three months before the company's aborted December 16 bid to buy two developers controlled by Ramalinga Raju's family.
Even as Sebi officials are quizzing Satyam Computer founder B Ramalinga Raju and his brother Rama Raju at the Chanchalguda jail here, the Andhra Pradesh police are likely to make more arrests in the Rs 7,800-crore fraud involving the IT major.
Sebi said it was constrained to approach the apex court for urgent relief related to the most serious financial scam that had large-scale national and international ramifications. A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan allowed Sebi to mention the matter on Tuesday after solicitor general G E Vahanvati and counsel Pratap Venugopal submitted the request on behalf of Sebi.
India has assured the world that Satyam Computer, embroiled in fraud by founder Ramalinga Raju, will continue to provide its clients world class services.
Satyam reveals four sets of issues, each of which calls for a different response.
In an interview, author and columnist Steve Hamm shared his thoughts on the Satyam episode, World Bank ban on Wipro et al.
Maytas Infra was entrusted with the task of constructing a township colony at Rs 233 crore (Rs 2.33 billion) in Jharsuguda following a contract in March 2008, a Vedanta official told PTI.
On January 11, E&Y had said in a statement that 'we would like to again clarify that we were not engaged by Satyam Computer Limited or any of its subsidiaries to conduct the valuation of Maytas Properties and learnt of the proposed Maytas/Satyam transaction after it was announced publicly."
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances