The trial in Satyam scam,Indias biggest corporate fraud,is set to begin on Monday.Brushing aside all legal objections raised by the accused,the 21st additional chief metropolitan magistrate of Hyderabad declared on Friday that he would start the first step in framing of charges against the accused,B Ramalinga Raju,the companys disgraced chairman,and nine others by examining them from Monday.
The magistrate,B V L N Chakravarthy,said he would examine Ramalinga Raju by sending him a questionnaire and examine the other accused by posing questions directly to them in court. Dismissing a last ditch effort by one of the accused who urged the court to hear both the accused and the CBI by conducting a full-fledged hearing before proceeding to examine them,the magistrate said it was a misconceived contention of the petitioner and against the spirit of the law.Quoting sections 239 and 240 of the CrPC,he declared that the examination is the first step and then comes the hearing,if necessary.
With this,one can safely presume that the case has entered into the ambit of the trail stage. The Satyam scam broke out on January 7,2009 with a confession from the companys high profile chairman Ramalinga Raju,who was till then viewed as one of the leading software icons of the nation.
So powerful was his confession that it shook the nations stock market and made the companys shareholders paupers overnight by depriving them of a vast wealth of Rs 14,000 crore within a few minutes of his confession. In the eyes of the corporate world,the image of an emerging India Inc had crippled suddenly with this single episode and the Union government took up a damage control exercise on a warfooting basis.
While on the one hand it transferred the ownership of the scam-hit company to a new management,Mahindra Satyam,on the other,it launched the nations biggest comprehensive multi-disciplinary investigation into the Satyam fraud.The CBI is heading the probe with Enforcement Directorate,Sebi,Serious Fraud Investigation Office of the ministry of corporate affairs,the income tax wing,the audit wing and scores of other wings assisting and coordinating with each other.
This coordinated effort resulted in the mapping of nearly 6000 acres of land acquired by Raju & Co.allegedly with the proceeds of crime.The team identified and attached several residential and commercial properties and also unearthed more than 350 fictitious companies floated by the accused.The authorities had also sent letters rogatory to more than sixty countries all over the world to get to the root of the foreign accounts held by Raju.This scam and the consequent investigation generated widespread interest all over the nation and elsewhere.
Apart from the CBI case,the ED is also preparing to file its case in an ED court soon.The corporate affairs authorities have filed their case in the economic offences court charging the directors of the company with violations of the company laws.The Sebi,the US stock exchange commission,several investors,both domestic and foreign,have been pursuing their cases in various courts of law all over the globe.
Ramalinga Raju,who voluntarily confessed to his crime and submitted himself to the laws of the land 18 months ago,is now taking treatment for his Hepatitis C ailment at Nims for the past 10 months under judicial custody.All the remaining 9 accused are out on bail and attending to various courts.
According to legal sources,the trial can be a very short one if Ramalinga Raju pleads guilty.This is because if his confession in January last year was based on conviction,he should plead guilty.However,if it was due to some compulsion,he would prefer to be tried, said one expert.
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