New charges filed against Satyam founder, Ramalinga Raju

The Central Bureau of Investigation filed new charges against the founder of Satyam Computer Services Ltd and five others on Thursday over an accounting fraud that hit the software services company early last year.                                           

The Central Bureau of Investigation said it had filed a third charge sheet against the six accused in a court in Hyderabad, where Satyam is headquartered, for filing false tax returns that resulted in loss to Satyam shareholders.                                           

Bharat Kumar, a lawyer for Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju, said he had not seen the latest charge sheet and would not be able to comment.                                           

The federal agency filed its first charge sheet against Raju and others in April last year, followed by another in November for falsification of accounts, cheating and criminal breach of trust, among other charges.                                           

Satyam, once India's fourth-largest IT services exporter, was hit by India's largest corporate scandal when Raju quit in January last year, revealing profits had been overstated for years.                                           

Raju, along with some former senior officials of the company including the managing director and the chief financial officer, are in jail pending trial.                                           

The fraud left Satyam struggling for survival. In April, Tech Mahindra won an auction for a controlling stake in the troubled firm.                                           

In the latest charge sheet, the CBI said Satyam had created an additional tax liability of Rs5.26 billion ($115 million) on the company by inflating revenue and income from interest earnings on term deposits that did not exist.