CBI to soon file second chargesheet on Satyam fraud

Ankur Garg (Company Secretary and Compliance Officer)   (114773 Points)

14 September 2009  

Monday 14 September, 2009.


CBI to soon file second chargesheet on Satyam fraud

The CBI will soon file a second chargesheet against former disgraced Chairman of Satyam Computer B Ramalinga Raju as it claimed to have unearthed more financial frauds like siphoning off money from the company, which may have caused loss to the shareholders.

 

Sources in the CBI said that Raju's confessional statement after the scam came to light earlier this year was an attempt by him to divulge only what he wanted to, while keeping other alleged financial frauds under wraps.

The sources said the investigators had found some more clues of alleged financial frauds of siphoning off money from Satyam and re-routing it to other front companies floated by the accused.

The agency, on 7th April, had filed a chargesheet against Raju and eight others under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for cheating and forgery.

The CBI had submitted 1,532 original documents of bank transactions and 65,000-pages of other documents, which included the statements of 432 witnesses in the case along with the chargesheet.

The sources said a close scrutiny of the documents showed siphoning of money to some tax haven countries and later re-routing it back into the country.

The Agency has also sought permission to investigate the overseas findings of the scam-tainted computer firm.

The agency is also probing the role of a prominent stock broker for alleged management of funds of the firm, which necessitates further investigation.

In a related move, a team of the US capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Commission has completed in India its probe into the multi-crore fraud case.

The SEC team had detailed discussions with the CBI, specifically on the role of auditors in the scam.

During the discussions, the SEC team looked into particular details about the way accounts were allegedly fudged and at the role of the accounting firms.

The SEC team had come to India following filing of over a dozen class action lawsuits in the US against the promoters and managers of the IT firm on behalf of investors, who purchased American Depository Receipts of the company between 6th January, 2004 (the listing date in the US) and 6th January, 2009 (the day before Raju's letter).

In these lawsuits, Satyam Computer, its promoters and management were charged with duping thousands of American investors of billions of dollars by artificially inflating share prices.