Support Satyam Chairman RamaLingaRaju

CBI to file counter on petition of former Satyam Chief's wife

2009-11-26T20:12:00.000-08:00

HYDERABAD: The CBI, probing the financial fraud in Satyam Computers, will tomorrow file a counter on a petition filed by the wife of former managing director of the company B Ramalinga Raju over release of some documents of a firm owned by her.

Radha Raju, wife of B Ramalinga Raju, in a petition filed in the designated CBI court sought interim custody of documents, pertaining to one of the private firms owned by her, that were seized by the investigating agency during searches conducted as part of the probe into the Satyam scam.

She (Radha Raju) sought the files to enable her to reply to the notices issued by the Income Tax Department, CBI deputy legal advisor B Ravindranath told PTI.

"We have to verify whether the seized files and documents are with the CBI or with the court," he said, adding, they would also file a counter tomorrow in this regard.

Meanwhile, another petition filed in the Court, by Anil Verma and Purnima, son-in-law and daughter of B Suryanarayana Raju (who is accused NO. 6 and presently on anticipatory bail) for de-freezing their accounts and fixed deposits in a private bank at Jubilee Hills, has been posted for hearing on December 9.

When RamaLingaRaju Getting Bail?

2009-05-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

All are thinking about Satyam Ex Chairman RamaLingaRaju, when he would be out of Jail on Bail.

Really this is Raju's bad time, Living Legend / Emperor become Prisoner today.

Hope Raju and team will get bail after AP Election Results.

Raju financed business of chief minister’s son

2009-05-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

Hyderabad, Feb 9 (IANS) The Satyam Computer Services fraud rocked the Andhra Pradesh assembly Monday with Leader of Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu alleging that IT firm’s former chairman B. Ramalinga Raju financed the business of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s (YSR) son.

However, the ruling Congress party hit back by accusing Naidu of receiving money from Raju, including for the education of his son in the US.

Initiating the debate in the house, Naidu said alleged a “nexus” between the government and Satyam, and claimed that the Crime Investigation Department (CID) inquiry ordered by the government was trying to cover up this nexus.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president claimed that 14 companies run by the chief minister’s family were used for money laundering by Raju. “He (Raju) pumped money into your companies,” he told YSR.

Naidu accused the chief minister’s son, Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, of violating rules including foreign direct investment rules, Foreign Exchange Regulations Act, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and registrar of companies rules.

The former chief minister claimed these companies received Rs.6 billion (Rs.600 crore) from various sources and the same money was used to publish Telugu daily ‘Sakshi’ and launch ‘Indira’ television channel.

Naidu said the massive fraud has brought shame to the state and accused the Congress government of shielding the guilty.

He pointed out that the SEBI had to approach the Supreme Court to interrogate Raju and other accused. He also referred to the statement of the SEBI chief that Raju was under protective custody of the state.

However, the Congress party said it was Naidu who received money from Raju. Government chief whip N. Kiran Kumar Reddy said it was during Naidu’s rule that Raju got all the patronage. He alleged that the NTR Trust and various other trusts of the TDP received money from Satyam.

Outside the house, the Congress leaders also alleged that Raju provided funds for the education of Naidu’s son Lokesh in the US.

Reacting to this, Naidu said if it was proved he was ready to go to jail. “Today when even a poor man is sending his children to the US for higher education, can I not bear the education expenses of my only son?” he asked.

Ramalinga Raju very happy over Satyam acquisition

2009-04-14T01:58:00.000-07:00

Satyam Computer is set to embark on a new trajectory under the leadership of Tech Mahindra, and the man who threw the company into a Ramalinga raju deep crisis and is now in jail -- B Ramalinga Raju -- said he is happy at the turn of events.

In a message though his wife Nandini, Raju expressed his satisfaction and happiness that Tech Mahindra today emerged the highest bidder to acquire the beleaguered IT company.

The takeover ended a long chapter which Byrraju Ramalinga Raju had begun 21 years ago. The son of an agriculturist from West Godavari district of coastal Andhra Pradesh had made an humble beginning.

Raju founded Satyam in 1987 and nurtured it. More than two decades later in 2009, he disclosed that he had been inflating profits and fudging the company's account books for many years.

One of the pioneers of offshore development, Satyam became one of the earliest companies to get a dedicated data link.

It was Jan 7 this year that Raju shocked corporate India by admitting to a Rs.78 billion ($1.5 billion) accounting fraud.

While resigning as chairman, he confessed that he cooked the company's account books and inflated profits over the past several years.

Raju, now facing investigation by multiple agencies including the CBI, is lodged in the Chanchalguda jail under judicial custody since January 10. Raju is charged with criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery and falsification of accounts.

RamaLingaRaju Latest Photos

2009-03-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

Satyam Computers Ex-Chairman Rama Linga Raju (when he was in Jail)

Fraud mail makes use of Satyam scam

2009-03-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

The notorious Nigerian email scam is now trying to milk the Satyam affair. In a new email being spammed to unwary Internet users, the sender claims to be the wife of former Satyam chief Ramalinga Raju’s brother and asks for help to transfer funds to India from Holland. It promises to “compensate” anyone who can assist.

Senior police officers say the email is similar to those sent in the Nigerian fraud that many people have lost money to.

The email says: “My name is Radha Ramalinga. I am the wife of Rama Ramalinga, the younger brother of Byrraju Ramalinga Raju, former chairman and founder and owner of Satyam Computers. I have a proposal which could be of immense financial benefit to you.”

It asks for help out of the “big trouble” that “my husband and his brother are currently in.” “I need your assistance to help me move some funds from Holland to India or anywhere else, where it could be of some help to our family,” the email says.

Asking that the matter be kept confidential, the email adds: “I will give you more details of the proposal if you show your willingness. I assure you that you will be compensated. I am currently in the UK where it is safe for me and my kids. You can reach me at my personal email id which is mrsradharamalinga1974@yahoo.co.uk.”

The police has taken serious note of the email and warned people not to fall for the bait. “Internet users need to be cautious when tricksters make attractive offers after exchanging a few emails,” a senior police officer says.

N. Vijayshankar, an expert in cyber law, says, the trick is not a new, but many fraudsters continue to cash in on the scheme.

This is the email

From: R.Ramalinga
Date: Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Subject: I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE
To: undisclosed-recipients

Namastey,

My name is Radha Ramalinga,I am the wife of Rama Ramalinga,the younger brother of Byrraju Ramalinga Raju,former chairman,founder and owner of Satyam Computers.

I do have a proposal for you,which would be of immense financial benefits to you and I.

My husband and his brother are currently in big trouble in India,I need your assistance to help me move some funds from Holland to India or anywhere where it would at least be of some help to our family.

I would give you more details of this proposal if you show yourself willing to take on it,I assure you that you would most certainly be compensated but please I would kindly request you to keep this matter confidential.

I am currently here in the UK where it is a bit safe for me and my kids. You can reach me on my personal email id which is mrsradharamalinga1974@yahoo.co.uk

Yours sincerely,
R.Ramalinga

Latest Plight Of 'Satyam' Employees

2009-01-21T02:43:00.000-08:00

Along with the bailout plan announced by YSR for Satyam Company, NASSCOM had requested all the other Indian IT giants not to hire Satyam employees. Vasanth, HR from Wipro says " We are getting enough number of resumes from Satyam employees and many of them are even ready to take offer for a less salary up to 30% of their current CTC (cost to company ), but we are ordered not to hire Satyam staff".

Current employees of other companies are also little bit worried because of the risk of replacing them with Satyamite with less salary.

Sridharan (name changed) a Satyamite says, " I tried to manage a job for same salary in TCS but they asked to return their offer as I belong to Satyam". As the IT company's strength is Human Capital, if employees leaves the company the client will be in trouble and the Company is the final looser, as NASSCOM has taken this step. An employee who has lost his job in Satyam says "I lost job in Satyam and now I am not getting job else where because I had worked for Satyam. Is that a curse? Is government looking out for any bailout plans to look after employees like me?

Film Director On Satyam Ramalinga Raju

2009-01-21T02:41:00.000-08:00

To take it off, our Telugu bidda Ramalinga raju garu occupies more web space than the president of America. WOW that's a pride by it self and I swear, being a Telugu.... for a movement it gives me more kicks than a few shots of tequila or mamidakaya pappu with avakayya and neyya..... , though it's highly debatable whether he is the Right Raju or the wrong Raju.

The views expressed below are my personal ones based on what I got fed with from the unprecedented, record breaking, bytes bashing, crores spending media unleash ever in the era of the modern financial world. I hope the media barons are happy with their desired mileage and I am sure it will make a positive impact on their Q3 results. I heart fully welcome this fourth estate boom after the real estate doom, after all we all do need some BOOM.

Raju garu says that he has cooked the books to protect the company interests, though the company is really not making those profits, assuming that he is saying the truth, I feel by doing so he really wanted to protect the company he started from being taken over (which I feel Raju garu has every right to do as he is the founder) he wanted to safe guard the interest of the employees,(which every hard working and self respecting Telugu would do) he wanted the share holders to enjoy the high value appreciation in spite of an unhealthy financial situation.(what is the crime in doing so when is he has given a chance to millions of share holders to cash on more than 10,000% returns though, legally on the wrong foot).

I really wonder keeping the speculators aside, which genuine original investor In Satyam lost money or returns in terms of dividend, bonuses or share split. In this era of scams where you loose your underwear, the original Satyam investor at the current market rate of RS 30 is @ a profit of more than 1500% even after enjoying more than 1000% of dividend to date.(The original face value of the share was Rs10/- which was later split to Rs 2/-).

And for the record what is the asset value of any software company minus its employees, its projects and clients which reflects as turnover. Though they might have cash reserves of more than Rs10,000 crores, that will be barely sufficient to fund their salaries and expenses for a year without any projects in hand.

It's an open secret that their net assets like buildings and lands will hardly be anywhere tangent to their actual valuation. But these greedy quick buck seeking pseudo intellectuals feel and want to believe that they are smart, savoy, analytical and foresighted, ignoring the reality, for their comfort, convenience and kicks...I feel unknowingly I conceived a new meaning to the so called word BULL on the stock market.

Happy go lucky gamblers at a Las Vegas casino are more real to themselves than these self deceiving people, I pity them.

Coming back to mana Raju garu, based on his confession, I feel his intentions were right, when he tried to swap the fictitious liquid assets of Satyam with Maytas stake( the failed take over) and hence trying to make it good. Had Raju garu had his way this whole crises would have been avoided. But it ought to be, thanks to the acute shrewdness of these pseudos who dug their grave with precision. Poor guys lost their fortune and made Raju garu richer. Now that he has been forced by circumstances to confess and exit, what obligation would he have towards Satyam and its fake balance sheet as he claims? There is a saying in Telugu "Vanda Abbadalu aadi ayyina oka pelli Cheyyi".means you can say a hundred lies to make a marriage happen. But these great guys didn't even spare Raju garu for a few lies and facilitate the marriage of Satyam and Maytas which might have been a blessing in a disguise for everyone". Well that's what we call fate and no one can escape it for good or bad" The most gratifying one liner to anyone on the cliff of helplessness.

Though I don't appreciate speculation, I have my sympathies for who all lost their hard earned money, but that doesn't give them any right ignore what Raju garu gave back to Telugus in particular and the system as a whole. It's a fact that he gave work opportunities to more than 50,000 people for more than 40% of their working life ie creating the source of income for more than a lakh of people. He helped millions of people through his charities and touching the heart of many more. I would like to question these pseudo groups that how many of these guys can remotely at least dream of achieving anything he has done. He might be the villain for a few but he is the hero for Telugus. He kept Andhra Pradesh on the world IT map and made every Telugu proud. Thanks to him that you no longer have to carry a map in your pocket to explain where you come from?

Wrong?

On the contrary if Raju garu has siphoned the money which was really existent as some sources claim, it's up to authorities to prove and if it's proven he like any normal citizen should face the law of the land and undergo what ever it has in store for him.

Robin Hood can be hero but he can't take liberty of our Great Nation.

Well an institution is not a single person, if that is the case Tatas, Birlas and Ambanis would not continue to exist after their founders. So nothing stops in this world, just like the world itself, everything moves on and Satyam will move on too with or without Raju garu.

I neither belong to the Raju community nor friends with them. I just have a lot of respect for this Gentleman. Good luck Raju Garu .

I am extremely sorry if I have offended anyone's feelings. This is just my POINT OF VIEW.

Kuchipudi Venkat
Film Director
venkykuchipudi@gmail.com

source: greatandhra.com

Ramalinga Raju beats Obama on web popularity charts!

2009-01-21T02:13:00.000-08:00

He may be popular for all the wrong reasons, but Satyam's disgraced founder Ramalinga Raju has beaten US President-elect Barack Obama on internet popularity charts in India, and is closing the gap abroad too.

By now infamous IT czar Raju shot to limelight earlier this month after disclosing what has emerged as the country's biggest ever corporate fraud in India and has been called 'India's Enron' right from the word go.

Google's search volume index shows Raju and Obama were generating almost equal searches from India during the first six days of the year, with Obama leading by a small margin.

However, Raju jumped up the charts on January 7, when he admitted to a massive fraud of about Rs 7,800 crore.

The search volumes for Raju are estimated to have been over 10 times more than that of Obama on January 7, after which it has been declining consistently but Raju is still holding an edge over the US President-elect.

In terms of search volumes generated from various regions, Raju's own state Andhra Pradesh is on top, followed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi. In terms of cities too, the maximum search volume has been from Hyderabad, where both Raju and Satyam are based, followed by Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Mahape and Delhi.

As regards searches for Obama, Tamil Nadu has been on the top, followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi among the regions. For cities, the maximum search volumes for Obama has come from Chennai, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi.

Outside India too, Raju has generated significant search volumes from UAE, Singapore, Finland, US, Poland, Australia, UK, Canada and Germany, but has lagged Obama.

Raju has been searched for in Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Dallas and San Fransisco, while search queries have come in Polish language too, other than English.

Letter from Satyam Employee - A Good One

2009-01-20T15:30:00.000-08:00

Letter from SATYAM Employee - A Good One!!!

Dear All,

I (Satyam Employee) am deputed at client location and came across a very interesting conversation in cafeteria yesterday.

One of my co-worker, also deputed with the same client through some lesser known two room company, mustered guts to ask me sarcastically in front of entire team, "So, Satyam is gone! What are you guys planning to do now?" In normal circumstances, I have a habit to not to reply to lose talks, but in front of entire team....

I thought I need to fix this guy's thought process. I asked him, as my military training has imbibed in me the habit to fight till last breadth,

"Who says Satyam is gone when I am very much alive here and committed to create value on behalf of my company?". He shot back, "Hello Mr., your chairman has resigned, you guys are facing financial turbulence and you still have a face to say that Satyam is not gone!"

At this juncture, I thought of replying to this guy in his own language. I asked him, "Tell me, what will you do and where will you go if our country India was not
there?"

He was not prepared for this level of thought and asked back, "What a stupid question, How can India be gone, it is a country?"

I asked him back, "Country! What makes a country? Land? Economy? Our Prime Minister? Our President? Our Geography? Or the PEOPLE? If our PM resigns, will you say India is gone? If our economy faces a slowdown, will you say India is gone? But yes, if the people of a country are lost for any reason, we will say that country has no meaning.

Who cares of vast land of Antarctica today which has just one permanent resident, Father Georgy? Which country does it belongs to? Why does not it has any government? Why does not it has any economy? Or, how many countries were there when humans used to hunt for food in pre-historic times? Countries, Wealth, Infrastructures and booming economies are nothing but creations of efforts of PEOPLE, and they do not have any existance on their own.

And the final blow was,

“When one man can create Satyam as an organization of 53,000 people, why not 53,000 committed people can rebuild one SATYAM?"

Read The Satyam Employee's Mail

2009-01-17T00:36:00.000-08:00

It's written by a Satyam employee:

At a time when almost 90% of my Satyam friends are cribbing about the fraud and betrayal by Ramalinga Raju, I have a slightly different opinion. It's bold of me to write this in black and white but this comes straight from my heart and experience.

Let me start by quoting an example of 2006. Most of my friends were unemployed with 50-60% plus marks in BTech, with a degree from an average University and hunting madly for a job. Whether people accept it today or not but the truth remains that Satyam was the ONLY saviour and the only mass recruiter who was ready to accept students who had back logs but had cleared them and also it did not put a very strict minimum marks criterion.

And this was true not only for my small college at Lucknow but also those across India . Satyam is the fourth largest in IT in India.

Looking at India's population I really want to thank Raju for giving some 54000 Indians jobs atleast for all these years . He was the reason for the revival of confidence and the reason for the bread and butter for many a families.

Satyam training was renowned all over India. Their STC training centre created numerous love stories and unexpected rekindling of a youthful environment where girls and boys were more indepenent than their college days . I remember most of my Satyam friends felt that they made better friends at Satyam's three to six months training than those in the four years of BTech.

Unfortunately people forget to thank God in sad times . I understand that what Raju did is deplorable and unpardonable. He should have treated business more formally and not dealt with it like a family affair . He should have been strict a couple of months or years before itself. Why did he hire so many non potential candidates and keep them on bench? When were the managers and the team mates last told that if they dont work hard, they will lose their job? Business cannot be run lousily.

I have been staying with some 200 odd girls for the last 2 years and many of them are from Satyam. Moreover I network a lot and I have lots of male friends at Satyam . I have seen how people tail gate to Satyam, how they give their swipe cards to others to swipe it on their behalf, how female employees have gone home sharp at 6am irrespective of when they landed at office, how employees sit at home for months at a stretch, prepare for all kind of post graduate entrance exams and still enjoy a full month's pay, how often they went for movies at local theatres at office hours, how often employees went to office just to sign on registers in the morning and at evening, how often they faked their certificates, how often they put unlimited fake medical and house rental bills.

How can we blame just one man when EACH AND EVERY person was disloyal? How can we exclude Auditors like PwC ? How can we exclude the Board of Directors who have washed their hands off so clean? How can we exclude banks who gave hefty loans without true verfication? How can we exclude the Chief Minister of AP who allowed leniency for Raju's fellow businessman?

How can we exclude managers who were never able to trace which bench employee under him had been away from office for how long?

Yet how can people forget this is the same man whose ideas and potentials gave them an identity for the past several years? How many couples found the right match at an IT industry , courtesy Satyam and how many Andhra farmers benefited from their crores of investments in Satyam shares .How can people forget that Satyam launched its offices right at the doorsteps of a residential colony, where people can simply walk to work?

The most gruesome experience that I can recollect was when a Satyam tag wearing person was waiting to attend an interview and I overheard him saying that he was in a business meeting at the My Home Satyam (Madhapur) office when he was sitting right infront of me at a totally different company. When employees themselves show such a lousy attitude and dont care a damn for the brand that they carry around their neck, how can they expect others to care?

I am not saying that ALL Satyam employees are bad. I have known very dedicated people too, but my point is very clear, before pointing fingers at others, introspect .There are thousands of people who have completed certifications at the cost of Satyam, got trained at Satyam.

Satyam made several freshers stand on their feet to get better jobs elsewhere across the globe and attain onsite exposure through Satyam.

What Raju did was to keep the business of Satyam going at any cost. I see a very smart man in him when he understood that he should rather accept his mistake than be caught by the USA laws . I see a selfish father in him too that he put a lot at stake for Maytas. However, he resigned with a lot of dignity and his letter of resignation shows humility. It takes a mammoth amount of courage to accept your mistake in public at a time when the media is ready to blow everything out of proportion. If humans dont make mistakes who else would?

My last salute to this man is for creating such mass employment in India for 57k employees and 57k families when even opening a beetle(pan) shop in a lane in India is a challenge !! Thanks to him for creating income for all the thousands of families who benefited through food chains, the tiffin wallahs, the transport people and all those who made money by renting their houses.

I read he donated Rs 1200 crores from his personal pocket to give the January salary of his Satyam employees. Today Satyamites call Raju a FRAUD.

The true and loyal Satyamites surely have all the reasons to say this word. But all the rest who sucked every rupee out of Satyam without doing any value addition need to understand - who was a bigger fraud.

Support RamaLingaRaju atleast now!!!

Satyam urgently needs Rs 150cr: Mynampati

2009-01-15T08:03:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: Satyam's senior management executive Ram Mynampati has informed the government that the troubled IT firm would need Rs 150 crore to meet insurance liabilities of its US employees.

"We have received a mail or two from Mynampati. They indicated that they would need something of the order of Rs 150 crore to take care of the health insurance liabilities of the employees in the US," economic affairs secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters here.

Mynampati is in the US to talk to clients and reassure them of the company's ability to continue serving them, besides restoring confidence among employees in the aftermath of a Rs 7,800 crore financial fraud disclosed by founder Ramalinga Raju last week.

Chawla said there is no immediate plan for a government bailout for Satyam, although Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath had indicated that the government was willing to extend financial support to the company.

"Not at this stage," Chawla said when asked if the government would offer any bailout to the IT firm now.

Asked if the new board has already approached the government for Rs 150 crore assistance, he said: "Board members have got down to work... they will be getting in touch with the ministry of corporate affairs."

The company's new board, comprising Deepak Parekh, Kiran Karnik and C Achuthan, had agreed on meeting financial needs as a top priority.

On whether the government would provide any indirect support to Satyam, Chawla said: "It depends on the board coming to kind of conclusion; what is their requirement and the actual accounts indicating what it is".

He said the real picture on the company's "receivables" has to be revealed. PTI

Source: Internet

Who is giving moral support to Raju in jail?

2009-01-15T08:02:00.000-08:00

Guess, who is extending moral support to Satyam ex-chief Ramalinga Raju in Chanchalguda jail, where he is on judicial custody in connection with multi-crore fraud?

Well, it is not his family members or his lawyers. It is tainted chairman of Krushi Bank Kosaraju Venkateshwara Rao, who is also undergoing imprisonment on the charges of duping gullible depositors of Krushi Bank.

Sources say Venkateshwara Rao, who is in the adjacent barrack of Rajus, has become very close to Ramalinga Raju (or may be they were old acquaintances) in the last five days and they are sharing a lot of information on financial issues. The Krushi Bank chairman has access to all the luxuries in jail and he is sharing even his "special" meal with Raju. And he is assuring Raju that nothing would happen to his social status, as people would forget all such issues within short time. "Look at me. If I come out now, nobody would bother about me. I can happily carry on my other activities without any hassles. Same will happen in your case," Kosaraju is learnt to have told Raju. Good idea!

'Raju' Stood Like Real 'Raju'

2009-01-14T21:51:00.000-08:00

We are not taking the meaning of caste here. We say Satyam Rama Linga Raju stood as real Raju (King), say many in AP. He has given the credit of his success to his employees and others those helped him, but carried every black mark on his shoulders with confession. It is true that he committed fraud. But a human being needs more guts to accept the fraud in public. Raju could do that.

Just look at the past. Ramoji Rao never confessed that he has done a criminal act in the case of Margadarsi issue. Still he is finding ways to escape with minimal loss. Same is the case with Krushi bank Venkateshwara Rao. He too never confessed about his crime.

Chandrababu never confessed that he betrayed his father in law for political gains. He still tries to laud NTR and wishes to justify his acts. Andhra Jyothy Radha Krishna never confessed and said how he owned Andhra Jyothy just being a reporter. He never reveals those property games.

PV Narasimha Rao never confessed about his scams. Ramesh Gelli too was silent after GTB collapse.

No convict dared to open mouth before public like Satyam Rama Lingaraju. Hence, although the doyen of software or the man behind bars, Raju is Raju. Like lion is a lion even it's in forest or zoo.

Hence Ramalinga Raju is getting huge sympathy wave across the state. But still as Raju himself said, he has to live as per the law of land.

Satyam scouting for strategic investor

2009-01-09T06:55:00.000-08:00

Satyam scouting for strategic investor, says chief executive

The new management team of the tainted Satyam Computer Services is looking for a strategic investor to bail it out from the severe liquidity crisis it is facing in the wake of the financial fraud admitted by founder chairman B. Ramalinga Raju, the company said here Thursday.

'We are looking for a strategic investor for raising liquidity. We have engaged an investment bank to shortlist the prospective investors. We will take a decision on it at the upcoming board meeting on January 10,' Satyam interim chief executive Ram Maynampati said at a press conference.

Admitting that the current cash balance was not encouraging, Mynampati said efforts were being made to improve the liquidity position to ensure business continuity.

'Liquidity position is not healthy but we are hopeful of improving it. We have taken care of December salary and the first instalment of salaries to our on-site employees in the US has been processed. We will also be able to pay compensation for January,' Mynampati asserted.

The whole-time director also revealed that chief financial officer (CFO) V. Srinivas has resigned, but his resignation was not accepted by the board and the new management team.

'The CFO sent his resignation letter yesterday (Wednesday). He has not been coming to office for personal reasons though he is in the city. The board has, however, not accepted the resignation. We will have an interim CFO from within the organisation. There are enough competent men in the company to take the job,' Mynampati said.

Seeking more time to come out with details about the shocking disclosures made by Raju, Mynampati said the new team was engaged in day-to-day operations to ensure business continuity.

'This is a crisis of unimaginable proportion. We have not faced such a situation in our lifetime. It is only 30 hours ago that the events have began to unfold. We need more time to test the veracity of Raju's letter. We have not yet decided on lodging a criminal complaint against him (Raju),' Mynampati said.

The company is also on the look out for new candidates for board appointments and is in touch with the regulatory and industry bodies to identify prospective candidates.

Following Raju's and managing director B. Rama Raju's resignations Wednesday, and that of four independent directors earlier, the nine-member board now has only three directors, including two independent directors - T.R. Prasad, V.S. Raju and Mynampati.

The interim CEO also said global clients have assured it they would stand by it and engage the company for software services.

'We have received support from our key customers. They assured us they would remain with the company in these challenging times. About 100 clients account for about 80 percent of the revenue,' Mynampati said.

Stating that neither he nor any of the senior executives were aware of the events that unfolded Wednesday, Mynampati said client-servicing would continue with transparency to ensure smooth transition.

'Clients rely on Satyam for mission critical applications. We have reached out to our clients the world over and assured them of maintaining our service support as before,' he said.

Denying media reports that employees were leaving the company, Mynampati said the company did not have any information on this.

'We have also reached out to our 53,000 employees to ensure continuity. They have assured they will remain with the company. Our aim is to ensure business continuity uninterrupted even during these challenging times,' he added.

source: indiaenews.com

Readers Opinions on 7Crores Lie

2009-01-09T06:53:00.000-08:00



Satyam: A Rs 7,000cr Lie

dr.G.Srinivasan,India,says:Typical of India and Indian government which will intervene after the fraud has occurred.Always locks the stable after the horse has bolted out.My question is does the government have any moral right to do anything ?But do Indians have a choice? [9 Jan, 2009 1857hrs IST] S. NARAYAN,Navi Mumbai,says:it is pity for all Satyam employees,shareholder and the clients. Raju must deserve the pat on back for confessing the fraud publicly in a press conference. It show that he is moving as per his plan. He might have calculated all pros and cons before cnfessing. A person whi can manage such a big compnay worls wide can easly come out of from this mess as the whole act is written, produced and acted by Raju himself. What is worst part is he is still a free man after confessing a huge fraud in a press conference. If a small person steal a bread from a shop, he is arrested but Raju is allowed to be a free man after nation wide confession.Such boldness can not come without a backing of Political big wig. Many such beneficiery will try to protect him and obelise him for a gain in future.Law enforcememt is so relaxed and slow in India that he will hardly face any big punishement. The only suferre will be small investor and innocent employee. Person like Raju is a bigger threat than terrorist like criminal than Kasab and his team.The terrosrist come from outside but these Raju ype peole are hidden inside our land and playing havoc with innocent people faith.The any punnishment will be lesser for him, but I hope that all law enforcing agency will come together to punish him and that will be a lesson for other to do the same trick. [9 Jan, 2009 1850hrs IST] D Kishan Prasad Rao,H No .9-4-13, Srinagar Colony, Karimnagar- 505002, Andhra Pradesh,says:Mysterious Riddles It looks that the uncertainties in Satyam is shocking and more surprise in coming days . It is also a big damage on corporate sector. Such crises cannot be solved easily as it is a sinking ship. The state government is also over confident on its surrender projects to Mytasj, a Satyam associated. This episode will effects on people for prolong. Our AP Chief Minister is also created troubles on his own political career for projects surrendering. Hope the other corporate do learn lessons and will be more vigilant. What is the fate of government projects, satyam employees and share holders is only god knows. D Kishan Prasad Rao Karimnagar [9 Jan, 2009 1753hrs IST] The Monk,Bangalore,says:Let me give you a new insight into this: If Mr Raju has 321cr on a/c and shown 5361cr in b.sheet. is he inflated the amount for market prospects. or has he taken away few crores with him? had there been 5361cr really and huge loot occured??? [9 Jan, 2009 1651hrs IST] Vineet Vijayvergiya,Bengaluru,says:If Reliance can bare lose of 30 billion then go for 3 more billon for the sake of India's credibility and 53000 innocent people..... [9 Jan, 2009 1628hrs IST] Vineet Vijayvergiya,Bengaluru,says:It is really going to affect india's growing IT sector.For the sake of Country's creadibility and reliability, indian government must take some action.. [9 Jan, 2009 1620hrs IST] Vineet Vijayvergiya,Bengaluru,says:We all and satyam employees have to pay due to one man Raju's fraudness, Whole IT industry which is floating so much money in indian market,now going to affect if no giant like Infy, TCS, HCLTech come into the picture soon... [9 Jan, 2009 1616hrs IST] suresh,nagpur,says:what satyam did is usually done by smaller private firms (with LT 10cr turnover.)when in need of assistance other than their primary source . they cook their books, auditors deliberately overlook. its the auditor duty to throw a spanner in this greasy fraud. they should be held accountable.A good bet is Raju understating the profit. [9 Jan, 2009 1541hrs IST] Maha,Australia,says:All the employees are intact and promised that they will be with the company in this tough time and work hard to bring the company back to the track. It was the promise and oath taken by all the employees in the meetings. [9 Jan, 2009 1455hrs IST] Diva,qatar,says:Change the name to "Asatyam computers" and rename the our mahatma's book should be named "The Story of My Experiments with lies." Source: Times of India

Did Raju own up only lesser of the two crimes?

2009-01-09T06:51:00.000-08:00

Did Raju own up only lesser of the two crimes?

Did Satyam Computers promoter-chairman Ramalinga Raju pick the lesser of two crimes when he decided to confess to India's largest-ever corporate

fraud of Rs 7,136 crore? That question had begun to niggle at a few people on Wednesday itself when the contents of his five-page letter hit the headlines. In the 24 hours since, the question has gained a whole lot more traction.

Here's why. Raju said that in the second quarter (July-Sept) of 2008, Satyam showed an operating margin of Rs 649 crore (which was 24% of revenue) when it was actually only Rs 61 crore (thats 3% of revenue). This, he indicated, was part of a fudging exercise over years to inflate profits — presumably to keep the stock price up and the magic of Satyam alive.

Essentially, what Raju confessed to was creative accounting — showing cash where none was generated and therefore did not exist. But, as he kept emphasizing, he did not profit personally from it. Still a crime, but not top of the pops in order of heinousness.

Here's the catch: A 3% margin — which is what Raju said Satyam had actually made — is ridiculously low in the IT industry. Forget Infosys, which made 33% in the same quarter, all IT firms of similar or even smaller size make between 20% and 30%. There's no way Satyam, which services 185 Fortune 500 firms, could have such a low profit margin, said every analyst we spoke to. What's more, even people in Satyam dont believe Raju. TOI, in its Thursday edition, quoted a Satyam staffer saying, ``His letter implies that we worked at a margin of 3%. That's pure unadulterated crap.''

So, if Satyam was operating on a much higher margin, why would Raju choose to say it was actually much lower? The implication is that more money was coming into the company in the form of higher profit, but it was being siphoned out.

It's a crime to show money in the books where none existed, which is what Raju said he did. But it's a worse crime to take out money that actually did exist. There's speculation that Raju was doing so in order to invest in other businesses such as real estate, and did intend to put it back in Satyam at some point of time, but possibly got into such a jam that he couldnt replenish the company's coffers.

The 3% margin question was put to the interim CEO Ram Mynampati at a press conference in Hyderabad on Thursday. He side-stepped the question.

Satyam CFO Srinivas Vadlamani attempts suicide: Sources

2009-01-09T06:50:00.000-08:00

Satyam CFO Srinivas Vadlamani attempts suicide: Sources

HYDERABAD: Srinivas Vadlamani, the chief financial officer of Satyam, who is also allegedly involved in the IT company’s financial fraud,

attempted suicide early this morning, say market sources. He is, however, safe, sources add.

Disgraced former Satyam chairman Ramalinga Raju in his letter of resignation to Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the company’s board of directors admitting fraud, had not absolved the CFO.

A Satyam spokeswoman however categorically denied that the CFO had attempted to take his life. But she was unable to say where the CFO could be found. "We don’t know where he is," she said.

Vadlamani’s name is the only significant one missing from Raju's list of those who were ‘unaware of the real situation’ and the IT company’s wrong-doings.

Interim CEO Ram Mynampati in a press conference on Thursday said that Vadlamani had put in his papers. The decision on his resignation is to be taken in board’smeeting on January 10.

The CFO has been absconding from his home in downtown Malkajgiri for the last two days.

He is said to have attempted suicide in the house of some relative in Ameerpet area, sources said.

Confirmation from the police about the incident is still awaited.

Source: Times of Inida

Raju to appear before Sebi on Saturday: Lawyer

2009-01-09T06:48:00.000-08:00

HYDERABAD: Raju, who has been untraceable since his sent in his resignation on Wednesday, is believed to be at his farmhouse at Kompally on the

outskirts of Hyderabad.

While there was no confirmation from police regarding his whereabouts, police officers said they had no orders yet to arrest him.

However, Raju is scheduled to meet Sebi officials at Satyam’s corporate office on Saturday. Raju's lawyer, Bharat Kumar, said his client Ramalinga Raju will appear before SEBI at 1600 hrs on Saturday, PTI reported.

Earlier in the day, Sebi had summoned Raju at his corporate office at 4.30pm. Bharat Kumar had earlier said "I will be there", but he did not specify whether Raju too would be present in his corporate office to meet the Sebi officials.

A while ago, a Sebi team probing a financial fraud in Satyam Computer reached Ramalinga Raju's house here, but returned as the premises was locked.

The SEBI team had first gone to Satyam office here yesterday in connection with a probe ordered by the market regulator a day before.

The probe follows Satyam's founder and former chairman Ramalinga Raju disclosing on Wednesday financial irregularities to the tune of about Rs 7,800 crore at the company, after which he resigned.

No Salaries for Satyam employees for 2months

2009-01-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

Satyam staff not to receive salaries for 2 months: Company email to staffers

Satyam Computer on Friday announced holding back employees salaries for two months, even as rumours were rife that the company might lay off close to 15,000 workers in the coming days.

The offices of Satyam Computer were rife today with the talks about forthcoming pink-slips at the company, which needs over Rs 500 crore every month just to meet its staff costs and has admitted that its cash position was not encouraging.

Employees said they have received an email saying the company would hold back salaries for two months and asked staffers to bear with it.

However, the company spokesperson declined knowledge of any such email and the issue would be looked into.

Even as the company spokesperson denied any layoff plans as of now, the rumours put the estimated job cuts at close to 15,000 by the end of this month.

Employees at the company said on condition of anonymity that they were hearing about imminent lay-off of people who were sitting on the bench or were close to completing their assigned projects. Besides, those being retained would be asked to take substantial salary cuts, they added.

At the same time, global HT consultancy firm Hay Group's Practice Leader Mark Thompson said that employees would suffer the most from the fraud.

Global HR consultancy firm HayGroup's Practice Leader Mark Thompson said: "Based on past experience ... as with Enron, Worldcom and the Mirror Group, it is likely to be the employees who will suffer most from the fraud perpetrated by their bosses."

In early 2000, the collapse of energy trader Enron had left thousands of people out of work, another 8,500 had lost their jobs at accounting firm Arthur Andersen; and Tyco eliminated 15,000 employees in February.

Analysts at technology research firm Forrester said employees and clients would soon desert the company amid competitive wooing by the rivals.

The research firm added that it has already been consulted by over half-a-dozen rivals of Satyam on competitive strategies to be adopted to take over the business from the clients of the beleaguered IT firm.

Satyam on Wednesday made a shocking disclosure of fudging of accounts by its founder Ramalinga Raju, who then quit as chairman, leaving an uncertain future for the company and its 53,000 employees.

Raju, in a statement on Wednesday, said Satyam's profits had been massively inflated over many years but no other board member was aware of the financial irregularities.

The timing of this news is the most unfortunate part about it given the fragile state of the global economy, Hay Group's Thompson said.

The scandal will damage corporate India's reputation, may have implications for the whole BPO and IT Services sector and would certainly give some "hotheads in the US a little more ammunition to use against the logic of outsourcing to India," Thompson said.

"However, there will not be a long term impact on the employer-employee relationship. Instead, we may get tied up with a series of reviews into corporate governance and a host of new regulations attempting to prevent this kind of thing from happening again," Thompson added.

Another global staffing services firm Manpower said at this point of time "employees should assess their current skill sets and explore the opportunities in sectors showing positive hiring intent like energy, telecom and mining."

Executive search firm Headhunters India's CEO Krish Lakshmikanth has said the company might lay off over 10,000 employees by the next month as it has little cash to pay salaries.

"It is most likely that Satyam will cut 10,000 jobs next month as the company is left with no cash to pay the salaries. The current fiasco is likely to put pressure on salaries, which may reduce by 10 per cent due to the surplus of about 20,000 people in the jobs market," Lakshmikanth said.

Lakshmikanth said till Tuesday evening there were about 7,800 Satyam employees who had posted their resumes on job sites and by Wednesday afternoon, it rose to 14,000.

Satyam's interim CEO Ram Mynampati yesterday said the company has taken care of the salary for December, but its liquidity position was not encouraging.

When contacted, IT-BPO employees union UNITES said, "We are in touch with the senior and top-level management of Satyam, all kind of rumours are doing the rounds but we still do not have any clarity on the issue."

"It is unlikely that there will be any layoffs as the new management is trying to portray that all is well in Satyam. Moreover, this is election year, even if the company do not have money government might chip in to rescue the employees," UNITES General Secretary Karthik Shekhar said.

According to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey hiring intent in IT & ITeS sector has gone down drastically this quarter, compared to the last quarter, but the space is showing a positive hiring intent, with net employment outlook of 23 per cent for the first quarter of 2009.

"In India IT and ITeS sector has been a low-cost and high -quality player and will surely emerge big again after the crisis," Manpower India added.

Meanwhile, UNITES India, a union of ITeS professionals, has warned that over 50,000 IT professionals in India may lose their jobs over the next six months as the situation in the sector is expected to worsen due to the impact of global meltdown on the export-driven industry.

What triggered Raju's confession?

2009-01-09T06:42:00.000-08:00

HYDERABAD: There are several hypotheses and rumours about the real reason behind Ramalinga Raju's decision to throw in the towel at this

particular juncture. Nobody knows the exact trigger for his letter to board members on Wednesday. But there are some guesses — was it financial advisor DSP Merrill Lynch's due diligence, was it realisation that the game was up or was it some other reason?

According to a story doing the rounds of Hyderabad, the day after K S Raju of Nagarjuna Finance was arrested last month, Ramalinga Raju is believed to have rushed to AP chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, pleading that leniency be shown towards a fellow businessman. What Reddy told Ramalinga Raju is not known, but a day or two later, K S Raju was able to check into a private hospital, ostensibly for a heart problem. Three weeks later, K S Raju is still in the hospital, though there is no additional information about the state of his health.

So, is it a promise of similar "favoured" treatment that gave Ramalinga Raju the confidence to own up on Wednesday? Sources say that Ramalinga, who had not been attending office regularly for the past three weeks, might have decided to give in two days ago, when he found his game was up. He realised that his hour of reckoning had come when DSP Merill Lynch refused to play ball with him.

Sources say that Raju, beforedeclaring the real state of affairs through his letter to Satyam board members, reportedly called a meeting of some of his community members and is believed to have asked them for advice. He is also believed to have confessed that there was no cash on his books and the noose was tightening around him. Even the media knows what has happened and so does everybody else, he said. Sources close to the Rajus say that the community members were aghast on hearing what had happened and many of them were clearly upset. Some of them were openly critical of Ramalinga's family. But,apparently, at the end of a heated meeting, community members promised to stand behind Ramalinga and pledged a huge sum for the legal battle.

Ramalinga Raju: From Andhra's pride to disgrace

2009-01-09T06:39:00.000-08:00

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Ramalinga Raju: From Andhra's pride to disgrace

Satyam was the brand image of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad was identified with this company, and its founder-chairman B. Ramalinga Raju was a hero to youngsters. But overnight, arguably the biggest fraud in India's corporate history has reduced the chairman and his company to a big zero.

The man who spent three decades in IT services and built Satyam into India's fourth largest IT services firm, was described as a visionary, a global business leader and a thinker. Now, the angry shareholders want him to be put behind bars.

Ramalinga Raju resigned as the company chairman Wednesday after confessing to a Rs.40 billion ($823 million) fraud that was going on for years.

Even when crisis hit Satyam following the management's aborted bid to acquire Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties, the two infrastructure companies owned by the promoters' family, Ramalinga Raju's wellwishers launched a website to repose faith in his leadership.

Having made a humble beginning to rise to the dizzy heights of success and become one of the richest Indians, Ramalinga Raju was described as the pride of Andhra Pradesh and the pride of Telugus.

He was born to a farmer B. Satyanarayana Raju in Garagaparru village in West Godavari district of coastal Andhra Pradesh Sep 16, 1954. Satyanarayana Raju moved to Hyderabad in the 1960s.

Ramalinga Raju did his B.Com from Andhra Loyola College in Vijayawada and went to the US in 1975 for MBA degree from Ohio University. He is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School.

He first ventured into construction and textiles business before moving over to IT.

He founded Satyam in 1987 and was so influenced by his father that he named the company after him. It was a humble beginning for Satyam with only 20 employees. Satyam Computer Services Ltd was incorporated in 1989 and it went public in 1992.

Satyam later became one of the earliest companies to get a dedicated data link for offshore development.

Through his managerial skills and quality leadership, Ramalinga Raju built Satyam into a multinational company and bagged several key contracts, especially from the US.

Satyam began trading on New York Stock Exchange in 2001. With each passing year, Satyam strengthened its position and extended its operations to various locations.

Ramalinga Raju's foray into corporate data and internet services too was path breaking. He founded Satyam Infoway or Sify and listed it on Nasdaq with great success. The business process outsourcing (BPO) wing of Satyam also made a remarkable beginning.

The company, whose revenues crossed $2 billion in 2007-08, became the first Indian company to list its American Depository Shares (ADS) on Euronext, which is one single cross-border trading platform of NYSE Euronext Group.

A soft-spoken Ramalinga Raju received several awards during his career, including Ernst and amp; Young entrepreneur of the years 1999 and 2007, Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences medal 1999, Dataquest IT man of the year 2000, CNBC Asian Business leader - corporate citizen of the year award 2002, Hyderabad Management Association life time achievement award 2006, and honorary doctorate by Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University 2006.

He was elected to several organisations, including the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), the apex forum of the Indian IT industry.

Ramalinga Raju, married to Nandini, has two sons and a daughter. His sons Teja B. Raju and Rama B. Raju are running Maytas Infrastructure and Maytas Properties.

The man who was once described as pride of Telugus, is today the target of their wrath.

'Ramalinga Raju was a hero till the last quarter of 2008 but today he is a zero. I was one of his biggest fans but today I am very upset,' said Harish Chandra Prasad, vice-chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Andhra Pradesh.

Supporters write to Raju, bash media

2009-01-09T06:36:00.000-08:00

Supporters write to Raju, bash media

Even as Ramalinga Raju faces the ire of India Inc, shareholders, regulators and Satyam employees, there seems to be a brigade of RR

loyalists whose faith in the man remains undiminished.

The website www.ramalingaraju.com is flooded with messages of supportthat are coming in from Kompally to California for the erstwhile chairman of Satyam. Sampler: "Our respects and confidence remain the same even today, you are still a hero among all of us and would always remain one," says Ramesh in Kompally.

What's surprising is that some people have listed their designations on the site as well. Like G V Kumar, CEO of Megasoft, who says, "Ramalinga Raju is a visionary and a great doyen of Indian business and IT industry in particular... I request all to pause a bit and put an end to this unnecessary vilification and allow him to do what he did best."

There's a post from a certain Srinivas, who has listed himself as 'President DLF': "Sir, you have outgrown the reach of the so-called bigwigs of today's world with your noble deeds like Bryraju Foundation and 108 Helpline...We are all behind you in this need of the hour to see you as the winner."

Whether these are indeed posts of the said executives or Raju supporters who have borrowed their names could not be verified. In fact, TOI could not verify anybody's identity or even the time that they posted their messages.

But on a day where all fingers were pointed at Raju, his supporters took on the shareholders and media.

"Firstly employees of Satyam should come out openly and bang those shareholders who are trying to paint a bad picture about Raju. Till now they have enjoyed the fruits of his good work and now they want to project him as bad," says Prasad from the US.

Another post from the US from Ravishankar reads, "It is clear that the media is magnifying the issue too much to bring bad name to him and the company. Satyamites, this is the time. Raise your voice of support for your 'father'." More media bashing on the internet showed up supports like this: "I have one thing to say to all the jokers who are passing belittling comments...start a company like Satyam or Maytas."Given that the Satyam saga seems far from over, one should see how long the support lasts as more skeletons tumble out of Raju's closet.

Raju's family launches website to drum up support

2009-01-09T06:34:00.000-08:00

Now it's all the media's fault. That's what a website set up by “supporters” of beleaguered Satyam reckons.

The website is registered to Ramaraju Kanumuri. Does that name sound familiar? It should, for its owner is a relative of Satyam boss Ramalinga Raju.

A whois query for RAMALINGARAJU.COM threw up the registrant’s name as Ramaraju Kanumuri. The registrant address says that he lives at C 401 Aparna Heights near CHIREC Public School in Hyderabad's Kondapur locality.The website has a tag line of “Satyameva Jayate" and seeks public support for Satyam.

It reads “This is definitely one of the darkest moments for all of us who believe that the whole thing just happened so fast and quick giving us very little time to realize and extend our support in whichever way to our GOD FATHER MR RAMALINGA RAJU, We all have been watching the media which played vital role in giving him a complete different and untrue image……”

Hundreds of gushing messages have been posted from all parts of the world.

DLF president, Srinivas from Hyderabad wrote, “Sir, you have out grown the reach of the so called big wigs of today’s world with your noble deeds like Bryraju Foundation and 108 Helpline. Your achievements spill in volumes for me even to recollect. I can only say, Sir. you came, you saw and you conquered not only the software business but OUR HEARTS OF THE COMMON MAN, YOU ARE NOW RAMILINGA RAJU THE PEOPLE`S MAN’ We are all behind you in this need of the hour to see you as the winner and please do remember your victory is our victory. We salute you, sir”.

Another surfer, Ravishankar has written, “ I was shocked to read the news about Mr.Raju in the media.It is clear that the media is magnifying the issue too much to bring bad name to him and the company. Satyamites, this is the time. Raise your voice of support for your 'FATHER' .”

An obviously over-excited Raj from Bangalore writes: "Errors are common but media should not show such events in zoomed manner.Media is main culprit.Same media should also remember that This same KING is creating and giving so many chances to talented young in all the levels without any discremination....Media dont play with corporate people for your ratings...if you know some news about any corporate do ring you gobells.... okThese people are not politicians or cinema people to go for Gossips....Raju Always RAJU....ALL the BEST for future Years MR.Raju.....How ever i am not so experienced person to Tell all these to Mr.Raju....He knows the power of True ANDHRITY...Dont give any chance to any of such .......We have great Faith On SATYAM......Prove it one more time...."

There are countless other messages of support on the site, which is well worth checking out. You could even leave your own message.

The company said that it‘s not an official website and 'well-wishers' might have hosted it. It’s clear that the company wants to rebuild the image it lost in the past few days, even the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Rajashekhara Reddy expressed no support for it.

But how can the company claim to have no clue about the site when one of Raj’s family launched it? Perhaps the director who knew about it has recently left the company.

The rise, rise and fall of Satyam

2009-01-09T02:26:00.000-08:00

Satyam founder B. Ramalinga Raju, who shocked India by admitting massive fraud over several years, was the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2007 and the company won the Golden Peacock Global Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance given by the World Council for Corporate Governance.

Here is a brief history of the company, which was once a flagbearer of Cyberabad, as its headquarters and Andhra Pradesh capital Hyderabad were hailed in the early years of the IT boom in late 1990s.

Established: June 24, 1987

Global Headquarters: Hyderabad

Development Centres: Bangalore, Basingstoke, Beijing, Bhubaneswar, Budapest, California, Chennai, Chicago, Dalian, Georgia, Guangzhou, Gurgaon, Hartford, Hyderabad, Kuala Lumpur, Melbourne, Mumbai, Munich, Mississauga, New Jersey, Ontario, Pune, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Wiesbaden

Employee strength: 52,865 (including employees in subsidiaries and joint ventures) as on Sep 30, 2008

1991: Debuts on Bombay Stock Exchage with an IPO oversubscribed 17 times

1999: Satyam Infoway (Sify) becomes the first Indian Internet company listed on Nasdaq; presence established in 30 countries

2001: Listed on the New York Stock Exchange with trading name SAY

2006: Revenue exceeds $1 billion; sets up the first 'Global Innovation Hub' in Singapore and operations in Guangzhou, China

2007: Becomes the official IT services provider for the FIFA World Cups, 2010 (South Africa) and 2014 (Brazil); Ramalinga Raju named the 'Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year'

2008: Revenue crosses the $2-billion mark

2008 Dec 16: Announces plan to buy two Maytas firms; calls off the deal within hours in the face of shareholders' opposition; share price tumbles

Dec 18: Announces board meeting on Dec. 29 to consider share buyback as markets hammer the shares

Dec 23: World Bank confirms blacklisting Satyam for eight years on grounds of data theft and bribing bank officials

Dec 26: The crisis takes its first toll - Mangalam Srinivasan, an independent director, quits

Dec 28: Puts off board meet to Jan 10

Dec 29: Three more directors quit

2009 Jan 2: Founder-promoters stake falls from 8.64 percent to 5.13 percent as financial institutions with whom the entire stake was pledged dump the shares

Jan 6: Promoters' stake falls further as lenders offload more pledged shares

Jan 7: Ramalinga Raju sends shockwaves by admitting fraud. Resigns as chairman.

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Satyam Delays Appraisal & Salary Revision Process

2009-01-09T02:23:00.000-08:00

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http://www.topix.com/forum/com/say/T7GMQ6QVJMAOJO83E

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Ramalinga Raju Profile

2009-01-09T01:36:00.000-08:00

Full Name: Byrraju Ramalinga Raju

Born: September 16, 1954

Raju was born to Byrraju Satyanarayana Raju in Bhimavaram. He did his B.Com from Andhra Loyola College at Vijayawada prior to receiving an MBA degree from Ohio University.

He has attended the Owner/President course at Harvard. For his achievements and contribution to society, he has been awarded Doctorate by Anna University, Chennai on 14 Dec 2007. He has two brothers and a sister. Raju is married to Nandini. They have two sons, Teja Raju and Rama Raju, and a daughter, Deepti, who is married.

Career
Raju founded Satyam in 1987 after venturing earlier into other businesses such as construction and textiles. He learned a great deal during his time at OU and in the United States.

During that time he foresaw the upcoming trend of outsourcing and the future prominence of computers. He started an IT company with 20 employees and bagged a multitude of IT projects from US companies.

Satyam rapidly developed and became a multinational company with thousands of employees spread over many countries. Raju showed a strong social orientation and has been furthering the cause of social transformation through Byrraju Foundation and EMRI

Achievement: Founder and Chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd; Chosen as Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Services in 1999

Ramalinga Raju is one of the pioneers of the Information Technology industry in India. He is the founder and Chairman of Satyam Computer Services Ltd.

Ramalinga Raju was born on September 16, 1954 in a family of farmers. He did his B. Com from Andhra Loyola College at Vijayawada and subsequently did his MBA from Ohio University, USA. Ramalinga Raju had a stint at Harvard too. He attended the Owner / President course at Harvard.

After returning to India in 1977, Ramalinga Raju moved away from the traditional agriculture business and set up a spinning and weaving mill named Sri Satyam. . Thereafter he shifted to the real estate business and started a construction company called Satyam Constructions. In 1987, Ramalinga Raju founded Satyam Computer Services along with one of his brothers-in-law, DVS Raju. The company went public in 1992.

With the launch of Satyam Infoway (Sify) Satyam became one of the first to enter Indian internet service market. Today, Satyam has a global presence and serves 44 Fortune 500 and over 390 multinational corporations.

Awards:
Ramalinga Raju has won several awards and honors.

These include Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Services in 1999,

Dataquest IT Man of the Year in 2000, and

CNBC's Asian Business Leader - Corporate Citizen of the Year award in 2002.

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All is not lost for Satyam investors: Experts

2009-01-09T01:33:00.000-08:00

Despite the pain of the last three days after Satyam's former Chairman Ramalinga Raju revealed that the IT major's books were doctored by Rs 7,000 crore and the stock touching Rs 10, experts feel all is not lost for Satyam's investors.

Ambareesh Baliga of Karvy Stock Broking feels despite the Satyam stock falling 90%, some value could be salvaged. He advises existing investors to hold on and dissuades new investors from entering in. "Investors who have bought it at much higher levels have already lost 80-90%. So, for the balance 10% they can take a chance because there are two schools of thought. One says there is a possibly of it disintegrating and shareholders may not get anything. Maximum what one will lose is just Rs 15, but one has already lost Rs 300. However, there is one outer chance that possibly you could have a white-knight coming in. In that case, at least some value could be salvaged. When people have already lost 90%, they can take a chance for the balanced 10%. But if one is talking of a fresh investment in Satyam at this point of time, it is a clear no."

Udayan Mukherjee, Stocks Editor, CNBC-TV18, also feels that investors should not go in for a distress sale now as the company's situation may not be as bleak as what Raju has portrayed. "If today one sells and on Monday you find you that the situation is actually not too bad, maybe the balance sheet is not as bad, maybe the real business is actually not so bad as being painted, and maybe there is some cash lurking somewhere else, which just got taken out recently. One will regret that decision to sell if the stock bounces back to Rs 60-70."

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Satyam fraud - not one man show: KPMG

2009-01-09T00:02:00.000-08:00

KPMG, which audits the accounts of IT majors like Infosys and Wipro, on Friday doubted the veracity of the confessional letter written by B Ramalinga Raju, the founder-chairman of Satyam Computer, saying the financial bungling cannot be done only by the head of the Hyderabad-based firm.

"It defies logic, one is not sure whether there is much more to it than is written in the letter and whether the letter contains all the facts," KPMG Chief Operating Officer Richard Rekhy said here on the sidelines of a CII function.

It is too simplistic at the moment to believe that the kind of thing that has happened in the company is done by Raju alone, he said.

"It requires a whole battery of people to advance those accounting entries and credit those because you have to involve other people as well like bankers to get those certificates," he said.

When asked whether Raju might have siphoned off funds and he is now admitting to lesser crime, he said it is quite possible but it could be known only after investigation of group companies.

Rekhy said investigation of Satyam companies should be done in such a way it should not hamper the business of IT major. He emphasised the need of an oversight agency for auditors.

Bureau Report

Satyam's auditing as per standards: PwC

2009-01-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

Under attack for its auditing of Satyam, whose founder Ramalinga Raju has disclosed financial wrongdoings entailing about Rs 7,800 crore, PwC today sought to absolve itself, saying audits were supported by appropriate evidence.

Offering to cooperate with the regulators and others, the global audit firm said in a statement: "Given our obligations for client confidentiality, it is not possible for us to comment upon the alleged irregularities...

"Price Waterhouse will fully meet its obligations to cooperate with the regulators and others

The auditing firm has been under media glare and microscopic scrutiny of the government and chartered accountants regulator ICAI since the revelations were made. ICAI has sought explanation from PwC, while promising action in case violations were found.

Since 1991, PriceWaterhouseCoopers has been auditing the accounts of the fourth largest IT company, whose Chairman yesterday admitted to inflating profits and creating fictitious assets.

"PricewaterhouseCoopers are the statutory auditors of Satyam. The audits were conducted by Price Waterhouse in accordance with applicable auditing standards and were supported by appropriate audit evidence," PwC said in a statement.

The auditing firm has over 100 clients in India including Bosch, HCL Technologies, Lanco Infratech, Maruti Suzuki, Sulzer India, Swaraj Mazda among others.

Bureau Report

Ramalinga Raju in Hyderabad, claims lawyer

2009-01-08T23:58:00.001-08:00

Satyam Computer founder-chairman B. Ramalinga Raju, whose whereabouts are not known after his shocking admission of massive financial fraud, is in the city and has no intention to avoid the process of law, his lawyer claimed Thursday even as a top company official said they did not rule out filing a criminal case against him.

Lawyer S. Bharat Kumar said in a statement Thursday, 'My client B. Ramalinga Raju is very much available in Hyderabad. He denies reports appearing in a section of media that he is absconding or has fled from the country.'

Meanwhile, Ram Mynampati, the interim CEO of Satyam Computers, told a news conference here Thursday evening that he had no knowledge of Raju's whereabouts. 'But I assuming that he is in Hyderabad,' he said.

To a query, he said he did not rule out filing a criminal case against Raju. 'Many actions are possible once we ascertain the validity of Mr Ramalinga Raju's statement,' he said.

Lawyer Kumar said Raju engaged his services to represent him in the legal matters pertaining to his statement to the Satyam board Wednesday.

Raju had stated in his letter to Satyam board Wednesday that he was ready to face the law of the land and the consequences.

'Under instructions from my client, I communicate that Raju had made it very clear that he was prepared to subject himself to the law of the land and face consequences arising thereof. Should the need arise, Raju will make himself available for probe or any legal process by the agencies of the government,' the statement said.

'At the cost of reiteration, I make it clear that Raju has no intention to avoid the process of law,' Kumar added.

Raju became incommunicado after sending a letter to Satyam board Wednesday morning, and confusion prevailed after a TV channel reported that he had left either for the US or Dubai.

Raju is believed to have met nobody in the last two days. It is also possible that he might have handed over his letter to company officials before becoming incommunicado.

The Hyderabad police are reportedly trying to find Raju's whereabouts.

The Andhra Pradesh government has ordered a probe by crime branch. Police Commissioner B. Prasada Rao Wednesday said the police would act only if a shareholder or regulator lodges a complaint against Raju.

Some police teams were also sent to Satyam offices in the city to trace him but were unsuccessful.

A team of officials from market regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) arrived here Thursday and begin the probe amid speculation that police might arrest Raju after he confessed to a Rs.70-billion (Rs.7,000-crore) fraud Wednesday.

'A SEBI team is in Satyam today. It is talking to few associates. We expect the process to continue for few days,' Ram Mynampati told the news conference.

Support Satyam Chairman RamaLingaRaju

2009-01-08T20:52:00.000-08:00

Hai to every Satyam employee.

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Every employee of SATYAM from low level to Management level should feel the Responsibility to save company. For your family journey

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