Centre forms panel to expedite Satyam probe

The Coordination Committee will be headed by Additional Secretary in the Corporate Affairs Ministry, official sources said. “We want to finish the investigation by the end of this year. Hence, the Coordination Committee,” an official said. Multi-disciplinary agencies have been asked to designate officers of the level of Joint Secretary to be part of the Coordination Committee.

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which was to submit its report on the money-siphoning angle on October 13, is yet to file a chargesheet. The CBI, another agency investigating the scam, is also expected to file its second chargesheet soon.

Sebi, however, said that it would complete investigation and take action against the Satyam accused latest by next year. The ED, which has attached close to 285 properties worth over Rs 1,000 crore of Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju, his relatives and others on the charge of money laundering, is now probing more such assets.

SFIO has already submitted a 14,000-page report on the Satyam scam to the ministry. The investigative agency in its preliminary report showed violations of various provisions of the Indian Penal Code like criminal breach of trust, forgery and cheating. However, sources say, the report does not indicate who the beneficiaries of third-party transactions, of about Rs 600 crore, are.