An Indian court has convicted the former chief of outsourcing giant Satyam, Byrraju Ramalinga Raju, and his mates over a massive accounting fraud.
Raju was the former chairman of outsourcing giant Satyam, and the case has tied up the Indian courts for nearly six years. All 10 accused,were found guilty by a special court in Hyderabad.
It was touted as the biggest accounting fraud in the country, and it first came to light in early 2009 after Raju confessed that he doctored key financial results and created a fictitious cash balance of more than US$1 billion.
Before that he overstated profits for several years, inflating the amount of debt owed to the company and understated its liabilities.
He was arrested two days later after he confessed to the fraud, along with his brother Rama Raju and others. They were charged with cheating, criminal conspiracy, forgery and breach of trust under relevant sections of the Indian penal code.
Satyam was once one of India’s biggest IT outsourcing companies. It was sold to Tech Mahindra in April 2009 in a government-overseen auction, which later absorbed the company in full.
Also involved in the case was Pricewaterhouse Coopers, which was in charge of auditing the firm when the scandal broke. So far there has been no indication what will happen to that outfit — after all they must seen the books and should have spotted what was happening.
The sentences will be announced on tomorrow. All 10 accused are presently out on bail.
