US market regulator seeks permission to probe Satyam

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the federal agency to regulate the securities industry in the Unites States, has sought India's permission to probe the multi-million dollar Satyam fraud case.
    
"A team of SEC members has requested permission from the Indian government and the CBI to probe the Satyam case," said CBI director, Ashwani Kumar. SEC, which is a counterpart of market regulator [Securities and Exchange Board of India] SEBI in USA, has been probing the Satyam's fraud case there.
    
Satyam Computer is listed in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Kumar said that  the agency plans to launch a joint prosecution with the help of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the SEBI.
    
Appreciating the role of investigators, especially from its Hyderabad's zone office, he said, "The CBI plans to come up with a joint strategy to prosecute Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju and other accused in the case. A request will be put forward for appointment of a special magistrate to facilitate speedy trial of the case."
   
"We are now going to come up with a joint strategy. We have requested the Andhra Pradesh Government and Hyderabad High Court to appoint special magistrate to try Satyam case," Kumar said, while inaugurating a five-day training course for media correspondents here. The Satyam fraud case, allegedly involving approximately Rs9,000 crore, came to light early this year after its founder Ramalinga Raju confessed to have inflated company's account books.
    
On February 18, the case was handed over to the CBI, after receiving a request from the Andhra Pradesh government. The agency on April 7 filed a 76-page chargesheet in the accounting fraud case against Raju and eight others under various sections of the Indian penal code for cheating and forgery before a special court in Hyderabad.
    
The CBI had also submitted 1,532 original documents of bank transactions and 65,000-page other documents, which included the statements of 432 witnesses in the case along with the chargesheet.
The agency said in its chargesheet that Raju as chairman of the company got generated fixed deposit receipts of various banks from his personal computer only.
    
CBI has also found that the fake FDRs were of huge amount as the interest on these deposits was projected to be over Rs375 crore as against the actual interest income of Rs7.42 lakh only.
     
According to a source, "The investigating agency, during its analysis of the computer of Raju, found that FDRs were designed and later printed from the same machine."