Published: April 9, 2015 11:27 IST | Updated: April 9, 2015 15:43 IST Hyderabad, April 9, 2015
Raju brothers sentenced to 7 years in jail, fined Rs. 5.5 crore
The Hindu
Former Satyam Computers chairman B Ramalinga Raju arrives for the final hearing at Nampally Criminal Courts in Hyderabad on Thursday. Photo: Nagara GopalFormer chairman of Satyam Computers B. Ramalinga Raju and nine other accused in the Satyam Computers scandal have been awarded seven years rigorous imprisonment and imposed varying amounts of fine by a Special Court in Hyderabad on Thursday. All the 10 accused in the multi-crore Satyam Computers account fraud, were found guilty by the judge B.V.L.N. Chakravarthy.
Ramalinga Raju and his brother Rama Raju, former managing director, have been penalised Rs.5.5 crore each, while the eight other accused were asked to pay a penalty of Rs.50 lakh each. The two Raju brothers faced charges under Section 409 of IPC (criminal breach of trust by merchant and agent), a provision which attracted the maximum punishment.
In addition, Ramalinga Raju faced charges under Sections 120-B read with 420 IPC. He was also convicted under Sections 409, 467, 468, 471, 477-A and 201 of IPC. The sentence under the various charges will run concurrently.
He has already served jail sentence in the case from January 10, 2009 to August 19, 2010. He was freed on bail by the High Court in Hyderabad in August 2010. Following the cancellation of the bail by the Supreme Court, he was again lodged in jail from November 10, 2010 to November 5, 2011.
Along with Mr. Ramalinga Raju, nine others – B. Rama Raju, Srinivas Vadlamani (former Chief Financial officer), S. Gopalakrishnan and Taluri Srinivas (partners Price Waterhouse), B. Suryanarayana Raju, Prabhakar Gupta (internal auditor), G. Ramakrishna (Head, Finance), D. Laxmipathy and Venkatpathi Raju were found guilty in the scam under sections 120 B read with Section 420.
External auditors Gopalakrishnan and Talluri Srinivas and Ramakrishna were also convicted under section 419 (impersonation).
B. Ramalinga Raju, V. Srinivas, S. Gopalakrishnan Talluri Srinivas, G. Ramakrishna, senior manager (Finance) D. Venkatapathy Raju, assistant manager (finance), Ch. Srisailam were convicted under sections 467, 468 (forgery), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) and 472-A (fudging of accounts).
B. Ramalinga Raju, B. Rama Raju, V. Srinivas, Gopalakrishnan, Talluri Srinivas, Suryanarayana Raju and G. Ramakrishna Rau were also convicted under section 201 (destruction of evidence).
Mr. Ramalinga Raju and B. Rama Raju, were also found guilty under additional section 409 (Criminal breach of trust).
The quantum of sentence would be pronounced in the afternoon after further arguments. After the verdict, the Judge heard the accused individually.
It may be mentioned here that the scam broke out following the confessional statement by Ramalinga Raju on January 7 of 2009. Initially, the investigation was handled by the Crime Investigation Department of the State Government which effected the initial arrest of the accused.
The case was transferred to the CBI within a couple of months. The agency constituted a multi-disciplinary investigation team with financial and other experts and filed three charge sheets. It also sent letters rogatory to six countries seeking information on company transactions.
The Satyam Comuters Services Case, over which arguments are going on in a Special Session Court here, has been a long-drawn affair, where in 226 prosecution witnesses were examined, 3,137 documents marked as material exhibits. The CBI filed three chargesheets, in the case which was one of the biggest corporate frauds in India having international ramifications.
It was a complicated case involving digital evidence, computer forensic techniques, audit procedures, accounting standards, revenue records, source codes and computer network blogs.
The former chairman Ramalinga Raju had admitted in the trial that the cash and bank balances were inflated to the tune of Rs.5,040 crore and liability was suprressed to the tune of Rs.1,230 crore and debtor position was overstated.
The Supreme Court while dealing with the bail petition of an accused Talluri Srinivas, a partner in Pricewater House, directed commencement of the trial as soon as the first chargesheet was filed in April 2009.
Special Court constituted
The CBI requested the State Government to designate an exclusive court for speedy trial. The State Government issued orders constituting the Special Court in November 2009 and three moths later the present magistrate BVLN Chakravarthy started presiding over it.
The trial commenced on November 8, 2010 on a day-to-day basis.
Ramalinga Raju, was in judicial custody from January 10, 2009 to August 19, 2010, when he was released on bail. He was again taken into judicial custody on November 10, 2010 and continued in the jail up to November 5, 2011, when he was released on bail for the second time. He continued to attend court away from jail.
Ramalinga Raju underwent treatment for Hepatitis C while in judicial custody.
Ramalinga Raju's letter-bomb on unsuspecting investors, employees and the government confessing to a Rs.7,136-crore fraud committed by him and his close circle of relatives and employees at the company took all by surprise. The revelation sent shockwaves across the market and Satyam shareholders lost more than Rs.14,000 crore collectively as the market — rightly — took the share to the cleaners.
Published: April 9, 2015 11:27 IST | Updated: April 9, 2015 12:34 IST Hyderabad, April 9, 2015
All 10 accused found guilty in Satyam case
The Hindu
Former Satyam Computers chairman B Ramalinga Raju arrives for the final hearing at Nampally Criminal Courts in Hyderabad on Thursday. Photo: Nagara GopalThe quantum of the sentence is expected to be pronounced in the afternoon.
All the 10 accused in the multi-crore Satyam Computers account fraud, including founder-chairman B. Ramalinga Raju, were found guilty by a Special Court here on Thursday.
The judge B.V.L.N. Chakravarthy gave the verdict in the sensational fraud case in the morning, but the quantum of sentence will be pronounced in the afternoon.
Along with Mr. Ramalinga Raju, nine others – B. Rama Raju, Srinivas Vadlamani (former Chief Financial officer), S. Gopalakrishnan and Taluri Srinivas (partners Price Waterhouse), B. Suryanarayana Raju, Prabhakar Gupta (internal auditor), G. Ramakrishna (Head, Finance), D. Laxmipathy and Venkatpathi Raju were found guilty in the scam under sections 120 B read with Section 420.
Mr. Ramalinga Raju and B. Rama Raju, were also found guilty under additional section 409 (Criminal breach of trust).
The quantum of sentence would be pronounced in the afternoon after further arguments. After the verdict, the Judge heard the accused individually.
It may be mentioned here that the scam broke out following the confessional statement by Ramalinga Raju on January 7 of 2009. Initially, the investigation was handled by the Crime Investigation Department of the State Government which effected the initial arrest of the accused.
The case was transferred to the CBI within a couple of months. The agency constituted a multi-disciplinary investigation team with financial and other experts and filed three charge sheets. It also sent letters rogatory to six countries seeking information on company transactions.
The Satyam Comuters Services Case, over which arguments are going on in a Special Session Court here, has been a long-drawn affair, where in 226 prosecution witnesses were examined, 3,137 documents marked as material exhibits. The CBI filed three chargesheets, in the case which was one of the biggest corporate frauds in India having international ramifications.
It was a complicated case involving digital evidence, computer forensic techniques, audit procedures, accounting standards, revenue records, source codes and computer network blogs.
The former chairman Ramalinga Raju had admitted in the trial that the cash and bank balances were inflated to the tune of Rs.5,040 crore and liability was suprressed to the tune of Rs.1,230 crore and debtor position was overstated.
The Supreme Court while dealing with the bail petition of an accused Talluri Srinivas, a partner in Pricewater House, directed commencement of the trial as soon as the first chargesheet was filed in April 2009.
Special Court constituted
The CBI requested the State Government to designate an exclusive court for speedy trial. The State Government issued orders constituting the Special Court in November 2009 and three moths later the present magistrate BVLN Chakravarthy started presiding over it.
The trial commenced on November 8, 2010 on a day-to-day basis.
Ramalinga Raju, was in judicial custody from January 10, 2009 to August 19, 2010, when he was released on bail. He was again taken into judicial custody on November 10, 2010 and continued in the jail up to November 5, 2011, when he was released on bail for the second time. He continued to attend court away from jail.
Ramalinga Raju underwent treatment for Hepatitis C while in judicial custody.
Ramalinga Raju's letter-bomb on unsuspecting investors, employees and the government confessing to a Rs.7,136-crore fraud committed by him and his close circle of relatives and employees at the company took all by surprise. The revelation sent shockwaves across the market and Satyam shareholders lost more than Rs.14,000 crore collectively as the market — rightly — took the share to the cleaners.
Printable version | Apr 9, 2015 12:55:21 PM | http://www.thehindu.com/business/all-10-accused-found-guilty-in-satyam-case/article7084538.ece
Satyam Founder Ramalinga Raju Found Guilty In India's Largest Corporate Scandal
Agencies | Updated On: April 09, 2015 12:17 (IST)
Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju has been found guilty by a Hyderabad court of criminal cheating and conspiracy in what is described as India's largest-ever corporate scandal.Mr Raju, his brother B Rama Raju and eight others, including some aides, were convicted in the accounting fraud case, worth Rs 14,000 crore according to investigators. Their sentence has not yet been announced."All the accused have been convicted of almost all charges," prosecutor K. Surender told reporters outside the court.Mr Raju, 60, spent nearly three years in jail before being granted bail. The trial has spanned six years. The CBI has handled the investigation.Satyam Computer Services was at one time considered the gold standard for an outsourcing company. The scandal, which erupted during the IT industry's early boom in India, forced the spotlight on corporate governance.In 2009, Mr Raju, who founded Satyam as a family business with his brother and brother-in-law in 1987, said about $1 billion or 94 per cent of the cash on the company's books was fictitious. Investors were shocked by the revelations that the firm's profits had been overstated for years and assets falsified.In a confessional letter to shareholders in 2009, Mr Raju wrote: "The concern was that poor performance would result in a takeover" and "It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten." He later retracted that statement.Satyam rose to prominence in the late 1990s when Mr Raju was among the first to spot outsourcing opportunities in the year 2000 rollover problem, which saw the coming of age of the software outsourcing industry.
Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju has been found guilty by a Hyderabad court of criminal cheating and conspiracy in what is described as India's largest-ever corporate scandal.
Mr Raju, his brother B Rama Raju and eight others, including some aides, were convicted in the accounting fraud case, worth Rs 14,000 crore according to investigators. Their sentence has not yet been announced.
"All the accused have been convicted of almost all charges," prosecutor K. Surender told reporters outside the court.
Mr Raju, 60, spent nearly three years in jail before being granted bail. The trial has spanned six years. The CBI has handled the investigation.
Satyam Computer Services was at one time considered the gold standard for an outsourcing company. The scandal, which erupted during the IT industry's early boom in India, forced the spotlight on corporate governance.
In 2009, Mr Raju, who founded Satyam as a family business with his brother and brother-in-law in 1987, said about $1 billion or 94 per cent of the cash on the company's books was fictitious. Investors were shocked by the revelations that the firm's profits had been overstated for years and assets falsified.
In a confessional letter to shareholders in 2009, Mr Raju wrote: "The concern was that poor performance would result in a takeover" and "It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten." He later retracted that statement.
Satyam rose to prominence in the late 1990s when Mr Raju was among the first to spot outsourcing opportunities in the year 2000 rollover problem, which saw the coming of age of the software outsourcing industry.
Satyam fraud: Verdict in multi-crore scam expected today
Touted as the country's biggest accounting fraud, the scam had come to light on January 7, 2009, after the firm's founder and then chairman B Ramalinga Raju allegedly confessed to manipulating his company's account books.
HYDERABAD: A special court here trying the multi-crore accounting fraud in erstwhile Satyam Computer Services Ltd (SCSL) will pronounce its judgement in the CBI-probed case on Thursday.
During the last hearing on March 9, special judge BVLN Chakravarthi said, "On April 9, the judgment will be pronounced. I am making it very clear. April 9 will be the final date for the verdict. No question of further adjournments. Court will not wait."
Touted as the country's biggest accounting fraud, the scam had come to light on January 7, 2009, after the firm's founder and then chairman B Ramalinga Raju allegedly confessed to manipulating his company's account books and inflating profits over many years to the tune of crores of rupees.
Raju was arrested by Andhra Pradesh Police's crime investigation department two days later after he allegedly confessed to the fraud, along with his brother Rama Raju and others.
All the 10 accused in the case are currently out on bail.
READ ALSO: Raju, kin made Rs 2,000 crore in Satyam scam, Sebi says
Trial over in Satyam scam
Around 3,000 documents were marked and 226 witnesses examined during the trial that began nearly six years ago.
Beside Ramalinga Raju, the other accused are, his brother and Satyam's former managing director B Rama Raju, former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas, former PwC auditors Subramani Gopalakrishnan and T Srinivas, Raju's another brother B Suryanarayana Raju, former employees G Ramakrishna, D Venkatpathi Raju and Ch Srisailam and Satyam's former internal chief auditor V S Prabhakar Gupta.
Raju and others were charged with offences like cheating, criminal conspiracy, forgery and breach of trust under relevant sections of IPC for inflating invoices and incomes, account falsification, faking fixed deposits, besides allegedly falsifying returns through violation of various Income Tax laws.
In February 2009, the CBI took over the investigation and filed three charge sheets (on April 7, 2009, November 24, 2009 and January 7, 2010), which were later clubbed into one.
The first two charge sheets dealt with the account fudging by Raju with the assistance of nine others, while the third charge sheet relates to "violation" of various income tax rules.
While the CBI accused Raju and the others of cheating, breach of trust by way of inflating invoices and incomes in the first and third chargesheets, the second one dealt with the accused allegedly falsifying returns through violation of various IT laws.
During the trial, the CBI alleged that the scam caused a loss of Rs 14,000 crore to shareholders of Satyam, while the defence countered the charges saying the accused were not responsible for the fraud and all the documents filed by the central agency relating to the case were fabricated and not according to the law.
The Enforcement Directorate had also filed a charge sheet against them under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
In January last year, Ramalinga Raju's wife Nandini Raju and sons Teja Raju and Rama Raju were among 21 relatives of the ex-Satyam boss who were convicted by a special court for economic offences here for default in income tax payment.
During the last hearing on March 9, special judge BVLN Chakravarthi said, "On April 9, the judgment will be pronounced. I am making it very clear. April 9 will be the final date for the verdict. No question of further adjournments. Court will not wait."
Touted as the country's biggest accounting fraud, the scam had come to light on January 7, 2009, after the firm's founder and then chairman B Ramalinga Raju allegedly confessed to manipulating his company's account books and inflating profits over many years to the tune of crores of rupees.
Raju was arrested by Andhra Pradesh Police's crime investigation department two days later after he allegedly confessed to the fraud, along with his brother Rama Raju and others.
All the 10 accused in the case are currently out on bail.
READ ALSO: Raju, kin made Rs 2,000 crore in Satyam scam, Sebi says
Trial over in Satyam scam
Around 3,000 documents were marked and 226 witnesses examined during the trial that began nearly six years ago.
Beside Ramalinga Raju, the other accused are, his brother and Satyam's former managing director B Rama Raju, former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas, former PwC auditors Subramani Gopalakrishnan and T Srinivas, Raju's another brother B Suryanarayana Raju, former employees G Ramakrishna, D Venkatpathi Raju and Ch Srisailam and Satyam's former internal chief auditor V S Prabhakar Gupta.
Raju and others were charged with offences like cheating, criminal conspiracy, forgery and breach of trust under relevant sections of IPC for inflating invoices and incomes, account falsification, faking fixed deposits, besides allegedly falsifying returns through violation of various Income Tax laws.
In February 2009, the CBI took over the investigation and filed three charge sheets (on April 7, 2009, November 24, 2009 and January 7, 2010), which were later clubbed into one.
The first two charge sheets dealt with the account fudging by Raju with the assistance of nine others, while the third charge sheet relates to "violation" of various income tax rules.
While the CBI accused Raju and the others of cheating, breach of trust by way of inflating invoices and incomes in the first and third chargesheets, the second one dealt with the accused allegedly falsifying returns through violation of various IT laws.
During the trial, the CBI alleged that the scam caused a loss of Rs 14,000 crore to shareholders of Satyam, while the defence countered the charges saying the accused were not responsible for the fraud and all the documents filed by the central agency relating to the case were fabricated and not according to the law.
The Enforcement Directorate had also filed a charge sheet against them under Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
In January last year, Ramalinga Raju's wife Nandini Raju and sons Teja Raju and Rama Raju were among 21 relatives of the ex-Satyam boss who were convicted by a special court for economic offences here for default in income tax payment.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Satyam-fraud-Verdict-in-multi-crore-scam-expected-today/articleshow/46859353.cms?prtpage=1