US markets watchdog seeks India nod to probe Satyam

“A team of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has requested permission from the Indian government and the CBI to probe the Satyam case,” CBI Director Ashwani Kumar said.

SEC, which is market regulator SEBI’s counterpart in the USA, has been probing the Satyam’s fraud case there. Satyam Computer is listed in the New York Stock Exchange.

Joint prosecution

The CBI director said the agency plans to launch a joint prosecution with the help of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Appreciating the role of investigators, especially from its Hyderabad’s zone office, he said the CBI plans to come up with a joint strategy to prosecute Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju and other accused in the case. He said he would also request for appointment of a special magistrate to facilitate speedy trial of the Satyam case.

“We are now going to come up with a joint strategy. We have requested the Andhra Pradesh Government and Hyderabad High Court to appoint special magistrate to try Satyam case,” the director said, while inaugurating a five-day training course for media correspondents here.

Mega fraud

The Satyam fraud case, allegedly involving approximately Rs 9,000 crore, came to light early this year after its founder Ramalinga Raju confessed to have inflated company’s account books.

The case on February 18 was handed over to the CBI after receiving a request from the Andhra Pradesh government.

The agency on April 7 filed a 76-page chargesheet in the accounting fraud case against Raju and eight others under various sections of the Indian penal code for cheating and forgery before a special court in Hyderabad.

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

The agency said in its chargesheet that Raju as chairman of the company got generated fixed deposit receipts of various banks from his personal computer only.

CBI has also found that the fake FDRs were of huge amount as the interest on these deposits was projected to be over Rs 375 crore as against the actual interest income of Rs 7.42 lakh only.

According to sources, the investigating agency, during its analysis of the computer of Raju, found that FDRs were designed and later printed from the same machine.
Press Trust of India