New Maytas directors say no signs of Satyam fund in firm

Mar 19 2009,
The newly appointed board of Maytas Infra on Thursday said there appeared to be no sign of any Satyam money being put into the company.
“Prima facie, we have not found any signs of money having come from Satyam into Maytas,” government-appointed director Ved Jain said at a press conference.
Allegations about disgraced Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju diverting Satyam funds into Maytas Infra and group company Maytas Properties had surfaced after he owned up to a massive accounting fraud at the information technology firm. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has been investigating the Maytas companies after the fraud at Satyam surfaced.
Thursday’s board meeting, the first since the new members joined the board, was chaired by the other government nominee O P Vaish. The newly appointed directors met the existing ones who shared information with them about the company, Vaish said.
The duo has asked for information about the projects being executed by the company. “Officials of Maytas Infra, who we have spoken to, seem confident that the company would stabilise and would be able to execute its projects. So far, we have no reason to disbelieve them,” Jain added. The directors had not noticed anything “seriously” wrong till now, he said.
Maytas Infra’s lenders are cooperating with the company and have asked the matter to be referred to the corporate restructuring board, Vaish said. “The lenders are aware that the company is in difficulty and they would be willing to cooperate with us. It is hoped that by March 25, an agreement will take place with the lenders for the matter to be referred to the corporate restructuring board,” he said.
Several banks, such as State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, reportedly have a collective exposure of about Rs 5000 crore in Maytas Infra, and the company is finding the going tough in raising further debt.
There would be no change in the statutory auditors of the company till the next annual general meeting (AGM), the directors said. “Statutory auditors can only be changed at an AGM. Hence, until the next AGM, the present auditors will continue,” Vaish said.
Jain, who has also been appointed director on the board of Maytas Properties, said he is engaged in taking stock of where the real estate company stood and who the stakeholders were.
“There have been some concerns raised about people who have booked flats in one of Maytas Properties’ projects. We would have an informal interaction with them on March 25 to reassure them,” he added.