Satyam told to disclose source of attached funds
According to sources, the company will now have to produce evidence for the funds and also provide information on the source. Invoking the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the authority has asked the company’s representatives to appear before it on December 10 at 11 am.
Even as the IT services major Satyam Computer Services is gearing up to challenge the Enforcement Directorate (ED) order attaching about Rs822 crore of its money lying in the banks as part of its probe into the accounting scam in the company, the adjudicating authority has issued notices to the company for more information on the funds.
According to sources, the company will now have to produce evidence for the funds and also provide information on the source. Invoking the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the authority has asked the company’s representatives to appear before it on December 10 at 11 am.
As part of the procedure, the ED will have to file the provisional attachment order before the adjudicating authority for getting a ratification of the decision. However, Satyam has been claiming that the crime proceeds were never lying in their accounts. “The government-appointed directors (after unearthing of the scam) had to borrow about Rs 450 crore to pay salaries,” Vineet Nayyar, chairman, Satyam, had said.
However, Satyam’s new management too had carried out a forensic audit of the accounts pertaining to Raju’s regime and had kept about Rs 1,230 crore in the suspense account. It is exactly this quantum of funds that a bunch of little-known entities allegedly owned by Raju and his family members had claimed from Satyam. These entities had said these funds were advanced to Satyam when the Rajus were at the helm of affairs.