Friday, January 9, 2009

Ramalinga Raju surrenders before police

Disgraced former chairman of Satyam Computer Services [Get Quote] B Ramalinga Raju late Friday evening surrendered before Andhra Pradesh's Director General of Police S S P Yadav, according to a police spokesperson.
Complete Coverage: The Satyam fiasco
When contacted, Satyam spokesperson declined to comment on reports of Raju's surrender. Raju, whose whereabouts were a matter of speculation ever since he made the startling disclosure on Wednesday about the Rs 7,800 crore financial fraud, had been in hiding and was summoned to appear before the SEBI on Saturday.
Earlier this evening, the government disbanded the current board of Satyam Computer and announced that it would nominate 10 directors on its board.
Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta said in New Delhi that the names of the new members would be announced soon for the board, which would meet in the next seven days. The existing board of the company was scheduled to meet o Saturday to discuss the crisis that has engulfed the company and its over 50,000 employees.
Founder of Satyam B Ramalinga Raju, who has been summoned by market regulator SEBI on Saturday, had resigned as Chairman after disclosing staggering financial fraud. Five other directors had also resigned leaving the strength only at three.
Announcing the decision, Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta said: "The current board ceases to exist and there would not be any meeting on Saturday. The new board will meet in the next seven days."
The government's decisive action came nearly 60 hours after the startling disclosure by Raju, presumed to have strong political friends, that put the company and its over 50,000 employees fate in limbo. Raju can face up to 10 years of imprisonment along with a fine, which may extend to Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million), in the financial fraud that led to erosion of investors wealth by whopping Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) in a day.

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