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The Satyam people: Where are they now?
A year has gone by since the fateful day when founder and former chairman of Satyam Computer Services (rebranded Mahindra Satyam), Ramalinga Raju, admitted to a multi-crore accounting fraud.
The government acted fast, and the law caught up with him. Now along with his brother B Rama Raju (who was executive director on the board) and the (former) chief financial officer (CFO), Srinivas Vadlamani, he is cooling his heels in Hyderabad's Chanchalguda jail while the investigation authorities pile up cases against them.
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The Satyam people: Where are they now?
Ram Mynampati, who was then Satyam's wholetime director, also has cases filed against him but is yet to answer charges in the Indian courts. He 'left for the United States' on January 11, 2009, to 'address clients' concerns'. Not much is known about his whereabouts since his resignation on June 23, 2009.
Considered Ramalinga Raju's 'right hand', Mynampati was paid a Rs 3.5 crore (Rs 35 million) annual salary package for the year ended March 2008 -- higher than even the founder's compensation and all the directors put together.
After the acquisition of Satyam by Tech Mahindra, he was replaced by Keshab Panda.The Satyam people: Where are they now?
Mangalam Srinivasan, the longest-serving independent director on the Satyam board, was the first to resign on December 25, owing 'moral responsibility for not casting a dissent vote against the deal to buy the two Maytas companies'.
Srinivasan, who was with the Satyam board since 1991, is a management consultant and visiting professor at many US universities. She is currently an advisor to the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University where she is a distinguished fellow.
She is also on the board of directors of Technology Frontiers (India) Private Limited -- a Hyderabad-based computer systems design company.
The Satyam people: Where are they now?
Mendu Rammohan Rao, who had chaired the Satyam's controversial board meeting that endorsed the company's proposal to buy the two Maytas companies run by the Raju family, quit on December 29, 2008.
He subsequently resigned as the dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB) on January 8, a day after Raju confessed to his wrong doings in the company. Rao was the dean of ISB since July 1, 2004 and his tenure was supposed to end in June 2009. He is now the Dean Emeritus of ISB.
Rao is also a member of the advisory board of Citigroup and member of the board of editors of Opsearch, a journal run by the Operational Research Society of India.
The Satyam people: Where are they now?
T R Prasad, a former Cabinet secretary, V S Raju, chairman of the Naval Research Board and former director of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi, and V P Rama Rao, a former chief secretary to the Andhra Pradesh government, continued to be on board of Satyam till the Centre superseded the Satyam board on January 9, and decided to appoint 10 nominated-directors.
Prasad and Raju made headlines when they went on record on December 28 saying they would continue on the Satyam board 'till the investor confidence is restored'.
"I am of the view that resigning from the board now is like deserting a troubled ship," Prasad had said. Rama Rao was on the Satyam board for a month, before the government-nominated directors took over. These independent directors were paid anywhere between Rs 12 lakh (Rs 1.2 million) and Rs 13.2 lakh (Rs 1.32 million) a year.
The Satyam people: Where are they now?
Harvard Business School professor Krishna G Palepu, based in the US, resigned as a director of Satyam on December 28 after Raju's confession.
He was on the board of Satyam since January 2003, and was paid the second highest package by Satyam after Mynampati -- Rs 91.91 lakh (Rs 9.191 million) for the 2007-08 financial year, which included Rs 79.51 lakh (Rs7.951 million) professional fee.
His role as the independent director of Satyam came under scrutiny for approving Satyam's proposal to buy Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties. Palepu, who was also a non-executive director on the board of directors of Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical major Dr Reddy's Laboratories Limited, tendered his resignation from the DRL board also on January 20.
The Satyam people: Where are they now?
Vinod K Dham, known as the 'father of Pentium', had been on the Satyam board since January 2003. He resigned as a director of Satyam on December 28.
He is the managing director of NEA-IndoUS Ventures, a venture capital company based in the Silicon Valley that invests in Indian start-ups.
In the dock Former Union cabinet secretary T R Prasad, ex-IIT director V S Raju and former dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB), M Rammohan Rao, and Satyam's former company secretary G Jayaraman appeared before the Special Court for Economic Offences on December 12.
They were named in seven cases filed before the court by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).
Apart from these, the SFIO also named ex-directors Vinod K Dham, Krishna G Palepu and Mangalam Srinivasan, and Mynampati -- all of whom did not appear.
