Satyam case: Ramalinga Raju, two others get six months in jail - Livemint

A file photo of B. Ramalinga Raju (centre). Photo: Mint

Hyderabad: B. Ramalinga Raju , the former chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd , was handed six months imprisonment by an economic offences court in Hyderabad, nearly six years after he confessed to cooking the books at the then fourth biggest software services firm.

Raju confessed to fudging the accounts of Satyam to the tune of Rs.7,136 crore in January 2009, setting off a flight of employees and a wave of client defections. He later disowned his statement during the trial.

On Monday, Raju was also fined a total of Rs.10.5 lakh in six different cases filed by the Serious Frauds Investigations Office (SFIO). Raju’s brother and former Satyam managing director, B. Rama Raju , and former whole-time director of Satyam, Ram Mynampati , were also handed similar punishment. Former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas was sentenced to six months imprisonment and a total fine of Rs.30,000, according to Ramakrishna Raju , a lawyer on Raju’s defence team.

The court decided that former Satyam director and Harvard Business School professor Krishna G. Palepu was paid in excess of his remuneration and asked him to pay Rs.2.66 crore within two months. Special Judge for Economic Offences M. Laxman also issued a non-bailable warrant against Palepu, who was not present in the court on Monday.

Former Satyam directors Vinod Dham , Mangalam Srinivasan , M. Rammohan Rao , T.R. Prasad, V.S. Raju have been fined Rs.20,000 each.

SFIO filed a total of seven cases for violations in auditing process and Companies Act. The court acquitted the accused in one case relating to the payment of dividends. SFIO has accused Raju and others of not providing a break-up of audit expenses, not providing information on payment of professional charges, not providing employment particulars of those who were paid over Rs.24 lakh annually, non-disclosure of dividend remittances, adjustment of entries in the balance sheet, and not attaching enclosures to the balance sheet.

The accused have been given a month’s time to appeal against the order. “We will file an application to set aside the judgement,” E. Uma Maheshwar Rao , Raju’s lawyer said on the phone.

Lawyer Ramakrishna Raju added the defence is planning to file an application before the court to exempt Raju, Rama Raju and V. Srinivas from going to jail because they appeared in the court while in the remand of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). All three are currently out on bail.

Other than the economic offences court case, there are at least three other cases pending against Raju.

A special court conducting the trial of a complaint filed by CBI is set to deliver its judgement on 23 December.

Apart from CBI and SFIO, Raju is also being tried in separate cases filed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and Enforcement Directorate (ED). The Sebi case is being heard in the economic offences court while the special court is conducting the trial of the ED case. In a pre-emptive move, Rama Raju had approached the Andhra Pradesh high court on 19 November, arguing that the economic offences court has no jurisdiction to try cases related to Satyam scam. Raju’s actions posed serious questions on the credibility of India’s outsourcing industry, prompting the government to replace Satyam’s board with its own.

Tech Mahindra Ltd , the IT arm of the Mahindra and Mahindra group, bought the firm in an April 2009 auction overseen by the government, and has nursed Satyam back to health. Satyam was merged with its parent in June last year.