In an anticipated move, about 37 companies which had allegedly lent money to B Ramalinga Raju, founder of Satyam, have served a legal notice on Satyam seeking a repayment of Rs 1,230 crore.
In his confession letter on January 7, Raju had claimed that he had to borrow Rs 1,230 crore to infuse into the company for keeping it afloat. According to him, he had borrowed these funds from 37 companies and the funds thus infused remained an understated liability.
This implied that the funds infusion was never on record in the books of Satyam.
The subsequent investigations revealed that the lenders to Satyam were mostly his own companies. In fact, Maytas Infra, a company promoted by
Raju himself along with his immediate family members, too had claimed that it had lent about Rs 380 crore to Satyam as an inter-corporate deposit (ICD). However, Tech Mahindra, the new owner of Satyam, has although been denying carrying any such liability.
Interestingly, calling it an understated liability, Raju too had clarified that the liability was never reflected in the books of the company.
“It is extremely difficult for these lenders to demand a repayment. At least it was never in the public domain on what grounds and under which authority, Raju had decided to borrow the money. There is also no material evidence to prove that the money was indeed infused into Satyam,” a source tracking the developments said.
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