Satyam Computer Services founder and former chairman B Ramalinga Raju and others appeared in a local court on Thursday in connection with complaints filed by market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Raju and others appeared before the court of Special Judge for Economic Offences, responding to the summons issued by it seeking their appearance before it based on Sebi's two criminal complaints filed in connection with the accounting fraud in the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services Limited.
The court directed Raju, the prime accused in Satyam scam, and others to furnish personal bond of Rs 20,000 each and sureties of the like amount on or before December 22 and posted the matter to the same date.
Nearly six years after the multi-crore rupee scam in Satyam jolted corporate India, a special court in Hyderabad will pronounce its verdict on December 23 in the case.
The complaints were filed against Raju and others for violation of Sebi Act, including violation of Prevention of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices norms and insider trading regulations, which are punishable under section 24 of the Sebi Act and carry a maximum punishment of 10 years.
According to Sebi, one complaint deals with alleged unfair trade practices adopted by Raju and the second one pertains to ‘violations’ of the Insider Trading Regulations committed by Raju and his kin.
The first complaint has eight people as accused and the other has 14 people and entities as accused.
According to the complaints, Raju and others allegedly made over Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) in illegal wealth in the Satyam scam.
As insiders, they new the real financial position of Satyam and yet chose to keep quiet and siphoned funds at the cost of genuine investors, the complaints alleged.
Earlier, the market regulator had slapped a penalty of Rs 1,850 crore (Rs 18.5 billion) plus 12 per cent interest per year since January 2009 on them, besides banning the accused from the market for 14 years.
The total penalty with interest works out to around Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion).
On January 7, 2009, Raju, the then chairman of Satyam Computers, had sent an email to Sebi wherein he allegedly admitted and confessed to inflating the company's cash and bank balances, besides understating liabilities and other financial mis-statements.
After the fraud came to light, the government had ordered an auction for sale of the company in the interest of investors and employees of what was known at that time as the country's fourth largest infotech firm.
The company was acquired by Tech Mahindra, then renamed as Mahindra Satyam, and eventually it was merged with Tech Mahindra.
