The XIV additional chief metropolitan magistrate on Saturday reserved the orders on the plea filed by the CBI, seeking permission to administer lie detection test on Satyam Computer Services Limited founder B Ramalinga Raju, his brother and former managing director and former Chief Financial Officer Srinivas Vadlamani, to July 9.
Board to meet investment advisors Goldman Sachs and Avendus today.
The government has decided to make all former Satyam Computer Services top executives and board members, including the independent directors, answerable for the fraud in the company on grounds that they "attempted to enrich themselves unjustifiably at the cost of the company and its stakeholders".
Software major Satyam Computer Services today posted a 30.37 per cent decline in profit after tax at Rs 343.30 crore
The Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said on Friday investigations into the multi-crore accounting fraud in Satyam Computers is almost complete and a final report from the Enforcement Directorate and the Internal Revenue Services is awaited.
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.
On the company's performance after entering the Indian market last year, he said the car maker has so far sold 100 units. The company right now delivers cars to customers as completely built units from its headquarters in Sweden.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Investors' Greivance Forum chief Kirit Somaiya has meanwhile filed a criminal complaint against Satyam and demanded that all transactions that have been conducted (after Raju admitted the fraud committed by him) must be reversed today (Friday, Jan 9) before 3 p.m. on the stock exchanges.
"During this month, the SFIO will begin the prosecution on those or those areas of company laws that the SFIO is expected to and have been authorised to proceed with," Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told a press conference in New Delhi.
"I am of the view that resigning from the board now is like deserting a troubled ship. We should remember Satyam is a major player in global IT space, employing well over 50,000 of the best and the brightest of professionals, with vendor commitments to several global corporates and entities," said Satyam's independent director T R Prasad.
India's scandal-hit Satyam Computer Services is to invite formal bids from potential suitors this week, pushing ahead with a possible sale - even though it could be months before its accounts are restated.
Official sources said while about 285 property were attached by the ED through an order in August, the agency is now probing the financial trail of many other properties which have been linked to Raju, his relatives and others.
GramIT, rural business process outsourcing initiative of the Byrraju Foundation, is in talks with various funding agencies 'to expand the scope and presence of its rural BPO services,' said foundation's lead partner Verghese Jacob. Byrraju Foundation is the NGO outfit formed by Satyam Computer Services founder B Ramalinga Raju in his personal capacity.
More trouble is brewing for Maytas Properties Ltd, the unlisted company promoted by the family of Satyam Computer Services Ltd founder B Ramalinga Raju.
Price Waterhouse's S Gopalakrishnan was involved in the Satyam case. The other two auditors who have been found guilty by the ICAI's disciplinary committee in the Global Trust Bank case, five years after the bank had collapsed, are Price Waterhouse partner P Ramakrishna and Lovelock & Lewes employee Manish Agarwal. ICAI President Uttam Agarwal said punitive action against the erring auditors would depend upon the gravity of offence.
N Chandrababu Naidu wanted a judicial probe by a sitting judge into the affairs of Satyam Computer Services, Maytas Infra, Maytas Properties, the 14 companies promoted by Jaganmohan Reddy and also Heritage Foods owned by his (Naidu's) wife and family.
The Satyam Computer Services scandal, which broke out on January 7 when the company's promoter, B Ramalinga Raju, announced that there was a Rs 7,800-crore (Rs 78-billion) hole in its deposits, is certain to have made it worse. According to the 2009 Edelman Trust Barometer, as much as 49 per cent of the respondents (all drawn from the top ten per cent income bracket) expressed growing concerns about business in India.
A source close to the development pointed out that, with the newly-appointed Minister of Corporate Affairs Salman Khurshid publicly stating that Tech Mahindra would have to deal with the excess employee issue with 'sensitivity', this is one point that will surely be discussed.
From a premium benchmark index stock to a penny stock and now back to the mid-cap space, the bounce-back has surprised even seasoned market players, though most of them are still wary of taking a call on the stock.
Showing clear signs of quicker recovery from the current crisis, the scam-devastated Satyam Computer Services has been awarded a fixed bid project on data modelling by a leading provider of healthcare solutions by diagnostic, treatment and preventative care.
Tech Mahindra's acquisition of Satyam Computer Services, according to an internal survey, has helped in restoring the confidence of the latter's clients, many of whom were thinking of terminating their ties with the fraud-hit IT firm.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India is expected to take up two critical issues at a board meeting scheduled February 2
The government has asked the investigating agency SFIO to expeditiously initiate prosecution proceedings against the guilty in the Satyam case and put the whole process on the fast track.
Months before the scam at Satyam had come to light with confessions of its founder and former chairman B Ramalinga Raju, the Satyam scrip had hit a 52-week high of Rs 542 in May last year. The IT firm's market capitalisation had been over Rs 36,600 crore (Rs 366 billion) at that time.
The government is likely to appoint more directors on the board of the crisis-ridden Satyam Computer Services soon. "More directors will be appointed within two days," a senior official of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs said.
Demanding a probe by central regulatory agency into the financial irregularities committed by software company Satyam Computer Services, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday alleged that a scam of such proportions was not possible without the support of SEBI, MCA, Planning Commission and the Andhra Pradesh government.
Many members of the association, who had bought shares of the IT firm at Rs 540 some four months back, had suffered heavy losses when the scrip crashed to Rs 39 on Wednesday, he said.
The economic offence investigation wing of the government SFIO would take at least a year to probe the financial fraud at Satyam Computer, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Earlier this year, Tata Consultancy Services, the country's largest software exporter, launched iOn, a cloud computing service for SMBs.
"Whether it (stake to be offered in Satyam) is 31 per cent or 26 per cent, anybody coming in would have to make an open offer of 20 per cent in the market. Then the number of shares with the person or with the bidder could be higher than 31 per cent or 26 per cent. So that is not an issue," Corporate Affairs Minister P C Gupta told reporters in New Delhi.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday obtained specimen signatures of former Satyam Computer chairman B Ramalinga Raju and four others accused in connection with the multi-crore rupee fraud in the IT company.
"The situation is bad. Some people are leaving and some are being asked to leave. And more important, several positions are remaining vacant. The selected candidates for these posts are not coming," said an associate, as the employees are called. "There is talk now that the new company, whichever that is, will cut at least 10,000 jobs gradually. We are praying that this is unfounded," a senior associate said.
If no bid comes within at least 90 per cent of the highest bid, the highest bidder would be declared the final buyer. Accordingly, the government-appointed board and Justice S P Bharucha, the former chief justice who will oversee the bidding, will open the sealed financial bids submitted by the shortlisted qualified bidders whose technical bids have been found satisfactory, and rank them based on price only. Earlier, there was no ranking of the bids.
The Tamil Nadu government is expected to allot 50 acres of land on the Old Mahabalipuram Road, the IT corridor of Chennai, to Satyam Computer Services Ltd.
Company balance sheets could soon acquire a new look, with the government asking ICAI to suggest ways to strengthen reporting norms following Satyam Computer Services scandal 7. ICAI sources said the mandate from the government was to ensure that company managements did not use notes to accounts as a cover-up for misdemeanours. The special group will submit its recommendations over the next few weeks.
The Hyderabad-based company had posted a net loss of Rs 327 crore (Rs 3.27 billion) in the January-March period of 2011.
Describing the scam as 'unique', a CBI spokesman said the case has been registered against Raju, the company's erstwhile directors and its auditor under various sections of the Indian Penal Code relating to forgery and cheating. CBI has constituted a Multi-disciplinary Investigation Team headed by deputy inspector general V V Lakshmi Narayana which will be headquartered in Hyderabad to undertake a thorough probe, the spokesman said.
The scam-tainted Satyam Computer Services appears to be gearing for action after almost a month of uncertainty.
Security and Exchange Board of India Chairman C B Bhave and representatives from the Reserve Bank and Corporate Affairs Ministry are likely to brief parliamentary standing committee on finance about the latest developments in the Satyam fraud case, at a meeting called on Wednesday to discuss the issue.
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