Ramalinga Raju
Indian businessman
- Entries
- 13
- On the record
- 9
- Stories
- 1
- Latest entry
- Jan 5, 2019
The record
B. Ramalinga Raju founded Satyam Computer Services and was its chairman until January 7, 2009, when he resigned and confessed in a letter to the board that the company's accounts had been falsified. The Hindu put the fraud he disclosed at Rs 7,136 crore. Hindustan Times reported that the confession came three weeks after a failed attempt to have Satyam buy Maytas Infrastructure and Maytas Properties for an estimated Rs 7,800 crore. Two days after the letter he and his brother B. Rama Raju, Satyam's former managing director, were arrested.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission settled with Satyam in April 2011. Its complaint said former senior officials had created more than 6,000 fake invoices and forged bank statements, producing over $1 billion in fictitious cash and cash-related balances, about half the company's total assets. Satyam paid a $10 million penalty without admitting or denying the allegations, and five India-based PricewaterhouseCoopers affiliates that had audited it paid $6 million.
In India his case ran through several courts. The Supreme Court cancelled a 2010 bail order and then granted him bail in November 2011, after two years and eight months in jail. An economic offences court gave him six months in December 2014 in cases brought by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, and in April 2015 a special CBI court convicted all ten accused and sentenced him to seven years. The Enforcement Directorate opened a separate money-laundering prosecution in 2013.
Roles and honours on the record
- until 2009 Founder and chairman, Satyam Computer Services; resigned January 7, 2009 source
Every entry, newest first
- Ruled
A special CBI court sentenced him to seven years and fined him โน5 crore, per the Hindustan Times. Biggest founder frauds ranked: Madoff tops, $170B forfeiture
Stories in this file
The record, entry by entry
- 2009-01-07 Admitted Raju resigned and, in a letter to the board, confessed to a Rs 7,136 crore fraud committed by him and his close circle of relatives and employees at the company. The Hindu, Satyam case timeline
- 2009-01-09 Filed He was arrested with his brother B. Rama Raju and charged with offences including criminal conspiracy, forgery, criminal breach of trust, cheating and falsification of record, after the government dismissed Satyam's entire board. BBC News report
- 2009-04-22 Reported Tech Mahindra made an open offer to Satyam shareholders at Rs 58 a share; in June 2009 Satyam took the new brand name Mahindra Satyam. The Hindu, Satyam case timeline
- 2010-10-26 Ruled India's Supreme Court cancelled the bail a Hyderabad court had granted him in August 2010 and ordered him to surrender by 8 November, after the CBI argued he could influence witnesses. BBC News report
- 2011-04-05 Official The SEC filed a settled civil action against Satyam in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleging over $1 billion in fictitious cash and cash-related balances; Satyam paid a $10 million penalty without admitting or denying the allegations. The SEC noted that Raju, its former chairman, was a defendant in a criminal trial in India. SEC, Litigation Release No. 21915
- 2011-04-05 Official The SEC sanctioned five India-based PricewaterhouseCoopers affiliates for deficient Satyam audits, including a failure to confirm cash balances and receivables, with a $6 million penalty; the PCAOB separately imposed a $1.5 million penalty on two of them. SEC press release 2011-82
- 2011-11-04 Ruled The Supreme Court granted bail to Raju, his brother B. Rama Raju and former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas, noting they had been in jail for two years and eight months. The Hindu report
- 2013-10-28 Filed The Enforcement Directorate filed a money-laundering complaint in a Hyderabad court against 47 persons and 166 corporate entities, headed by Raju. The Hindu report
- 2014-12-08 Ruled In the first judgment in the case, an economic offences court in Hyderabad sentenced Raju, his brother B. Rama Raju and two others to six months' imprisonment in cases the Serious Fraud Investigation Office filed under the Companies Act. The Hindu report
- 2015-04-09 Ruled A court sentenced Raju and nine others to seven years in prison and fined him $800,000. He had denied the charges of conspiracy, cheating and forgery while admitting to accounting malpractices. BBC News report
- 2015-04-20 Ruled The Metropolitan Sessions Court in Hyderabad dismissed a petition by Raju and others challenging the seven-year sentence, on the ground that it was not maintainable. The Hindu report
- 2019-01-05 Reported Business Standard reported that Raju was out on bail ten years after the fraud came to light, and that people in the know said he guided his sons and other family members in their business pursuits. Business Standard report