PTI 5 August 2009
HYDERABAD: A local court on Wednesday extended the judicial remand of Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju and eight other accused in the multi-crore rupee fraud case in the IT company by 14 days.
The XIV Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate extended the remand of Ramalinga Raju, his brother Rama Raju, former Satyam CFO Vadlamani Srinivas, former auditors of Price Waterhouse S Gopalakrishnan and Talluri Srinivas and three former employees of the IT firm till August 19.
The accused, who have been lodged in the Chanchalguda jail, were produced before the magistrate on Wednesday.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Criminal cases against Maytas Properties promoters
The Hyderabad police has registered cheating and criminal breach of trust cases against the promoters of Maytas Properties, an unlisted company owned by the family of Satyam Computer Services Ltd founder B Ramalinga Raju, who is in jail after confessing to manipulating Satyam’s accounts.
Speaking to Business Standard, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detective) R S Praveen Kumar said the police registered the cases yesterday following a complaint from a member who bought property at Hill County, Bachupally, a residential project promoted by Maytas Properties on the outskirts of the city.
The complainant told the police that he paid about Rs 77 lakh to buy the property and the company promised to deliver it in March 2008 but did not do so, citing the crash in the real estate market.
The police have registered cases under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) and Section 420 (cheating). “We will investigate the case based on the complaint,” Kumar said, adding that that the cases were filed against B Rama Raju, Maytas Properties, vice-chairman and younger son of Ramalinga Raju.
People who bought flats at Hill County have been on the warpath for some weeks now since pressure from their monthly loan instalments was building up. They have held demonstrations at the construction site, at Rama Raju’s residence and also staged a hunger strike in protest against the delay.
Hill County is a Rs 1,100-crore project out of which the company has collected Rs 654 crore by selling residential property. It currently has Rs 100 crore as receivables and Rs 200 crore as vendor liabilities. The project envisaged construction of 840 apartments and 326 independent villas. The flats were priced between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1.5 crore, while the price of villas ranged from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2.5 crore.
Last week, the company’s government-appointed director Ved Jain announced that it was looking at parting with a stake in the residential project.
Speaking to Business Standard, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detective) R S Praveen Kumar said the police registered the cases yesterday following a complaint from a member who bought property at Hill County, Bachupally, a residential project promoted by Maytas Properties on the outskirts of the city.
The complainant told the police that he paid about Rs 77 lakh to buy the property and the company promised to deliver it in March 2008 but did not do so, citing the crash in the real estate market.
The police have registered cases under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) and Section 420 (cheating). “We will investigate the case based on the complaint,” Kumar said, adding that that the cases were filed against B Rama Raju, Maytas Properties, vice-chairman and younger son of Ramalinga Raju.
People who bought flats at Hill County have been on the warpath for some weeks now since pressure from their monthly loan instalments was building up. They have held demonstrations at the construction site, at Rama Raju’s residence and also staged a hunger strike in protest against the delay.
Hill County is a Rs 1,100-crore project out of which the company has collected Rs 654 crore by selling residential property. It currently has Rs 100 crore as receivables and Rs 200 crore as vendor liabilities. The project envisaged construction of 840 apartments and 326 independent villas. The flats were priced between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1.5 crore, while the price of villas ranged from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2.5 crore.
Last week, the company’s government-appointed director Ved Jain announced that it was looking at parting with a stake in the residential project.
Maytas Properties writes to angry clients
Hyderabad July 23, 2009
Maytas Properties, hit by both the recession in real estate and the Satyam accounting scam, has written to angry clients to give it more time.
Vice-Chairman B Rama Raju has written to the Hill County Home Owners Welfare Association, the body of clients in its prestigious project here which is now stuck for want of money. The customers, all of whom have paid a huge amount for a promised luxury home, are threatening prosecution.
“I am committed to do the project,’’ he promised in the letter, adding assurances of positive developments soon.
The police have registered cases against Rama Raju and Maytas Infra vice chairman Teja Raju, both sons of Satyam Computer Services’ founder B Ramalinga Raju, following a complaint from two members of the association for delaying the project.
“Several conditions, both internal and external, have contributed to the challenges that the company was facing in raising the funds to complete the Hill County project”, Rama Raju stated in the letter, a copy of which is available with Business Standard.
Maytas Properties is one of the two companies the Satyam founder had made an abortive bid to acquire in December last year to cover the huge scam that he finally couldn’t keep hidden. Maytas ran into problems after it failed to keep its promise of delivering the homes at the Rs 1,100-crore Hill County project in March 2008. Hill County, located at Bachupally on the city outskirts, was to have 840 apartments and 326 bungalows. These were priced between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 2.5 crore.
The company had collected Rs 654 crore from property buyers, who says they are paying monthly installments of Rs 50,000 upwards, though the flats and independent houses are yet to be ready.
Rama Raju says the current economic conditions, including the slowdown of demand in real estate, lack of investor interest and tightening of credit by financial institutions have made the company’s pursuit for funds a lot more difficult.
“In addition, what appears to be a never-ending pursuit by investigating agencies had to be dealt with immediately, thus diverting our attention” from the core issue of raising funds, he said. Adding that the company was now in discussion with some investors and financial institutions to complete the construction at Hill County.
He added the promoters have offered to provide additional collateral to realise the required funds. “Barring any unforeseen events, we are looking forward for a positive outcome soon.’’
Maytas Properties, hit by both the recession in real estate and the Satyam accounting scam, has written to angry clients to give it more time.
Vice-Chairman B Rama Raju has written to the Hill County Home Owners Welfare Association, the body of clients in its prestigious project here which is now stuck for want of money. The customers, all of whom have paid a huge amount for a promised luxury home, are threatening prosecution.
“I am committed to do the project,’’ he promised in the letter, adding assurances of positive developments soon.
The police have registered cases against Rama Raju and Maytas Infra vice chairman Teja Raju, both sons of Satyam Computer Services’ founder B Ramalinga Raju, following a complaint from two members of the association for delaying the project.
“Several conditions, both internal and external, have contributed to the challenges that the company was facing in raising the funds to complete the Hill County project”, Rama Raju stated in the letter, a copy of which is available with Business Standard.
Maytas Properties is one of the two companies the Satyam founder had made an abortive bid to acquire in December last year to cover the huge scam that he finally couldn’t keep hidden. Maytas ran into problems after it failed to keep its promise of delivering the homes at the Rs 1,100-crore Hill County project in March 2008. Hill County, located at Bachupally on the city outskirts, was to have 840 apartments and 326 bungalows. These were priced between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 2.5 crore.
The company had collected Rs 654 crore from property buyers, who says they are paying monthly installments of Rs 50,000 upwards, though the flats and independent houses are yet to be ready.
Rama Raju says the current economic conditions, including the slowdown of demand in real estate, lack of investor interest and tightening of credit by financial institutions have made the company’s pursuit for funds a lot more difficult.
“In addition, what appears to be a never-ending pursuit by investigating agencies had to be dealt with immediately, thus diverting our attention” from the core issue of raising funds, he said. Adding that the company was now in discussion with some investors and financial institutions to complete the construction at Hill County.
He added the promoters have offered to provide additional collateral to realise the required funds. “Barring any unforeseen events, we are looking forward for a positive outcome soon.’’
'No trace of Maytas funds in Satyam'
22 July 2009
HYDERABAD: In a fresh twist to the Satyam-Maytas saga, the top honchos of Mahindra Satyam denied having any knowledge of Rs 600 crore having found its way from Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties coffers into Satyam.
Vineet Nayyar, executive vice-chairman of Mahindra Satyam, told TOI that they have not received any communication from the two Maytas companies seeking a refund. "People can claim anything. But as far as we are concerned, till the Satyam accounts are restated we cannot say how much money has gone out of Satyam or into it," said Nayyar. "The forensics are being done by our finance team to untangle the financial manipulations at Satyam. We are in the process of restating the accounts," he added.
It was only on Saturday that government-appointed director of Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties, Ved Jain had declared that the two companies, promoted by Ramalinga Raju's sons, had given Rs 380 crore and Rs 220 crore, respectively, by way of inter-corporate deposits (ICDs) to Satyam and that they had initiated proceedings to get the money back. Jain had claimed that there were records that the money had ended up at Satyam from Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties via certain Maytas controlled companies and that they had the documentary proof to support their claims.
Gearing up to battle class action lawsuits filed in US, new owners of Satyam do not seem to be in a mood to entertain the latest in a series of claims by the Rajus. Even as the Mahindras had, on an earlier occasion, said that they had found no evidence of Satyam having received any cash from Maytas, Ramalinga Raju's brother Suryanarayana Raju had staked claim to Rs 1230 crore.
He had claimed, in a letter that Satyam owed the money to a clutch of private companies owned by him. The Mahindras, who just upped their stake in Satyam to 42.7% through subsidiary Venturbay early last week, are already grappling with the legal issues facing the company.
HYDERABAD: In a fresh twist to the Satyam-Maytas saga, the top honchos of Mahindra Satyam denied having any knowledge of Rs 600 crore having found its way from Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties coffers into Satyam.
Vineet Nayyar, executive vice-chairman of Mahindra Satyam, told TOI that they have not received any communication from the two Maytas companies seeking a refund. "People can claim anything. But as far as we are concerned, till the Satyam accounts are restated we cannot say how much money has gone out of Satyam or into it," said Nayyar. "The forensics are being done by our finance team to untangle the financial manipulations at Satyam. We are in the process of restating the accounts," he added.
It was only on Saturday that government-appointed director of Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties, Ved Jain had declared that the two companies, promoted by Ramalinga Raju's sons, had given Rs 380 crore and Rs 220 crore, respectively, by way of inter-corporate deposits (ICDs) to Satyam and that they had initiated proceedings to get the money back. Jain had claimed that there were records that the money had ended up at Satyam from Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties via certain Maytas controlled companies and that they had the documentary proof to support their claims.
Gearing up to battle class action lawsuits filed in US, new owners of Satyam do not seem to be in a mood to entertain the latest in a series of claims by the Rajus. Even as the Mahindras had, on an earlier occasion, said that they had found no evidence of Satyam having received any cash from Maytas, Ramalinga Raju's brother Suryanarayana Raju had staked claim to Rs 1230 crore.
He had claimed, in a letter that Satyam owed the money to a clutch of private companies owned by him. The Mahindras, who just upped their stake in Satyam to 42.7% through subsidiary Venturbay early last week, are already grappling with the legal issues facing the company.
US SEC reviews progress on restatement of Satyam a/cs
24 Jul 2009, ET Bureau
HYDERABAD: A high-level US Securities and Exchange Commission team reviewed the progress on the restatement of accounts of Satyam Computer Services on Thursday with audit firm KPMG, Mahindra Satyam CEO CP Gurnani told ET.
The US SEC team, accompanied by Sebi officials also met Tech Mahindra officials, the new owners of Satyam, to discuss a host of issues including re-statement of the manipulated accounts.
Global audit firms KPMG and Deloitte have been commissioned to conduct a forensic audit of Satyam’s accounts, after founder B Ramalinga Raju confessed to fudging the books for seven years.
The US SEC is probing the violation of US Securities law by former Satyam executives after a clutch of class action suits were filed by law firms representing shareholders of Satyam in the US. Shareholders alleged that the executives issued false and misleading statements.
A senior Mahindra Satyam official said the restatement exercise is on track and is likely to the completed by December this year. Sebi is probing the insider trading of shares by Raju and his family as investigating agencies including the CBI suspect that the promoters made windfall gains by rigging share prices and invested the money in realty deals.
In an interim report on the Satyam investigation, SEBI has recommended prohibiting Satyam’s esrtwhile auditors and the audit firm Price Waterhouse from auditing accounts of listed companies for a certain period.
HYDERABAD: A high-level US Securities and Exchange Commission team reviewed the progress on the restatement of accounts of Satyam Computer Services on Thursday with audit firm KPMG, Mahindra Satyam CEO CP Gurnani told ET.
The US SEC team, accompanied by Sebi officials also met Tech Mahindra officials, the new owners of Satyam, to discuss a host of issues including re-statement of the manipulated accounts.
Global audit firms KPMG and Deloitte have been commissioned to conduct a forensic audit of Satyam’s accounts, after founder B Ramalinga Raju confessed to fudging the books for seven years.
The US SEC is probing the violation of US Securities law by former Satyam executives after a clutch of class action suits were filed by law firms representing shareholders of Satyam in the US. Shareholders alleged that the executives issued false and misleading statements.
A senior Mahindra Satyam official said the restatement exercise is on track and is likely to the completed by December this year. Sebi is probing the insider trading of shares by Raju and his family as investigating agencies including the CBI suspect that the promoters made windfall gains by rigging share prices and invested the money in realty deals.
In an interim report on the Satyam investigation, SEBI has recommended prohibiting Satyam’s esrtwhile auditors and the audit firm Price Waterhouse from auditing accounts of listed companies for a certain period.
CBI chief calls on senior officials at Satyam
Hyderabad July 25, 2009
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths, led by its director Ashwini Kumar, met senior officials of fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services, now rebranded as Mahindra Satyam, at its headquarters here on Friday.
“The CBI team was here to get first-hand information on the possible acquaintance of some staff with the company’s (jailed) founder, Ramalinga Raju. We don’t know further details of the closed-door meeting, as about 30 CBI security personnel cordoned off the entire office area. Several officials of the company, along with some senior management members, were present in the meeting,” a company source said.
He indicated the CBI team was likely to visit the IT outsourcing major’s headquarters again in a day or two. The CBI chief arrived here on Thursday to review the progress made by the bureau on its investigation into the multi-crore accounting fraud at Satyam.
Meanwhile, a petition filed by legal counsel for Ramalinga Raju yesterday, asking for quashing of the July 9 order of a lower court which allowed the CBI to conduct a lie detector test (polygraph test) and brain mapping (F300 testing) on Raju and his brother and former managing director B Rama Raju, and former chief financial officer Srinivas Vadlamani, all accused in the multi-crore scam, came up for hearing today.
Raju’s counsel contended the tests violated fundamental rights of the accused and would subject them to pressure. The confessions, anyway, would not be admissible in court. The CBI counsel sought time till July 27 from the court to file a reply. He told the court it would not conduct the tests till July 30. The CBI feels crores of rupees were also misappropriated from Satyam, for which they have yet to get proof. The accused, on whom the forensic tests were to be conducted, did not reveal the information with regard to the alleged defalcation and therefore, these were necessary to aid in the investigation.
The lower court felt it was a fit case to agree to allow the lie detector test and brain mapping.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths, led by its director Ashwini Kumar, met senior officials of fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services, now rebranded as Mahindra Satyam, at its headquarters here on Friday.
“The CBI team was here to get first-hand information on the possible acquaintance of some staff with the company’s (jailed) founder, Ramalinga Raju. We don’t know further details of the closed-door meeting, as about 30 CBI security personnel cordoned off the entire office area. Several officials of the company, along with some senior management members, were present in the meeting,” a company source said.
He indicated the CBI team was likely to visit the IT outsourcing major’s headquarters again in a day or two. The CBI chief arrived here on Thursday to review the progress made by the bureau on its investigation into the multi-crore accounting fraud at Satyam.
Meanwhile, a petition filed by legal counsel for Ramalinga Raju yesterday, asking for quashing of the July 9 order of a lower court which allowed the CBI to conduct a lie detector test (polygraph test) and brain mapping (F300 testing) on Raju and his brother and former managing director B Rama Raju, and former chief financial officer Srinivas Vadlamani, all accused in the multi-crore scam, came up for hearing today.
Raju’s counsel contended the tests violated fundamental rights of the accused and would subject them to pressure. The confessions, anyway, would not be admissible in court. The CBI counsel sought time till July 27 from the court to file a reply. He told the court it would not conduct the tests till July 30. The CBI feels crores of rupees were also misappropriated from Satyam, for which they have yet to get proof. The accused, on whom the forensic tests were to be conducted, did not reveal the information with regard to the alleged defalcation and therefore, these were necessary to aid in the investigation.
The lower court felt it was a fit case to agree to allow the lie detector test and brain mapping.
Satyam scam: SEC team meets CBI, SEBI, KPMG officials
Hyderabad, July 25 The United States’ Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) team has held discussions with Mr Ashwani Kumar, CBI Director, and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), on the Rs 7,136-crore Satyam scam at the IT major’s Infocity campus at Madhapur here on Friday.
The three-member SEC team also quizzed auditors of KPMG, which is taking part in the restatement of the balance sheets of the company. KPMG is doing a forensic study on how the scam was perpetrated over the years.
The SEC team, which conducted a preliminary probe in February 2009 soon after the scam broke out, had sought the permission from the Union Government and the CBI to carry out its own investigation into the issue.
Mr Ashwani Kumar, who reviewed the CBI’s probe into the scam, went to the Satyam campus along with his colleagues in the Multi-Discliplinary Investigating Team on Friday. The SEC team reportedly enquired into the role played by PriceWaterhouse, the statutory auditors for Satyam for years during the scam period.
Case adjourned
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has adjourned hearing on the appeal by the counsel of Mr B. Ramalinga Raju (the former Satyam Chairman), questioning a lower court’s decision to permit CBI to conduct a lie-detector test and brain-mapping on Mr Raju. “Hearing has been deferred to July 28. The CBI gave an undertaking that it would not conduct the tests before that date,” said Mr S. Bharatkumar, counsel for Mr Raju.
The three-member SEC team also quizzed auditors of KPMG, which is taking part in the restatement of the balance sheets of the company. KPMG is doing a forensic study on how the scam was perpetrated over the years.
The SEC team, which conducted a preliminary probe in February 2009 soon after the scam broke out, had sought the permission from the Union Government and the CBI to carry out its own investigation into the issue.
Mr Ashwani Kumar, who reviewed the CBI’s probe into the scam, went to the Satyam campus along with his colleagues in the Multi-Discliplinary Investigating Team on Friday. The SEC team reportedly enquired into the role played by PriceWaterhouse, the statutory auditors for Satyam for years during the scam period.
Case adjourned
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has adjourned hearing on the appeal by the counsel of Mr B. Ramalinga Raju (the former Satyam Chairman), questioning a lower court’s decision to permit CBI to conduct a lie-detector test and brain-mapping on Mr Raju. “Hearing has been deferred to July 28. The CBI gave an undertaking that it would not conduct the tests before that date,” said Mr S. Bharatkumar, counsel for Mr Raju.
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