The Central Bureau of Investigation lodged an FIR against the disgraced founder and ex-chairman of Satyam Computers Pvt. Ltd., D Ramalinga Raju, directors and auditors of the company and others on Friday under different Sections of Indian Penal Code relating to forgery and cheating, two days after taking over the case from crime branch CID, Andhra Pradesh.
In the registered FIR, CBI has not mentioned any name except Ramalinga Raju but has registered the case against the directors and auditors as their names would be mentioned later after unraveling the case.
The case has been registered under the Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and 477-A (falsification of accounts) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Taking into account 90-day deadline for filing the charge-sheet, CBI has constituted a 16-member Multi-disciplinary Investigation Team (MDIT) headed by DIG V V Lakshmi Narayana, and the Superintendent of Police A V Y Krishna (both CBI) will be the chief investigating officer of the case. The team will have its headquarters in Hyderabad to undertake a thorough probe into the scam.
An SP from Bank Securities and Fraud Cell (BSFC) of CBI and an assistant general manager of State bank of India (SBI) who is on the CBI deputation for technical assistance have also been included in MDIT.
Apart from these, CBI has also included five experienced chartered accountants from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and two officers from Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI) in the MDIT to probe this ‘unique’ corporate fraud case forthwith.
Moreover, CBI has also asked for support from all the ministries, departments and government institutes which has been granted by the Cabinet Secretariat. Government has asked all departments, ministries and institutions like the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Registrar of Companies (RoC), Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax to provided full-fledged support to the multi-disciplinary investigation team, whenever required.
The Andhra Pradesh government has also nominated Principal Secretary (Home) Ajoyendra Pyal as an officer to bring better coordination among CID, other state government departments, ministries and CBI.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court has also passed an order directing to state government to provide logistics and other necessary assistance, including unconditional hand over of all the documents and evidences sized by CBCID from state police, to CBI pertaining to this case.
Meanwhile, the newly constituted board of Satyam on Saturday has begun its meeting in Hyderabad to discuss the process of finding a strategic partner. The Company Law Board (CLB) had recently granted permission to the board to seek out any strategic partner to provide financial assistant to the beleaguered company.
Several major firms, including G M Modi led Spice group and engineering giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T), have shown their interest to acquire the stake of this fraud-hit IT firm.
The government, on the other hand, has denied to provide any financial assistance to the investors of Satyam by quoting, ‘the risk of equities traded in capital markets remain with the investors’.
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