India's Biggest Scams and Scamsters Part 1
(M. Furqan Khan, Karachi)
1.Ramalinga Raju
The biggest corporate scam in India has come from one of the most respected
businessmen. Satyam founder Byrraju Ramalinga Raju resigned as its chairman
after admitting to cooking up the account books. His efforts to fill the
"fictitious assets with real ones" through Maytas acquisition failed, after
which he decided to confess the crime. With a fraud involving about Rs 8,000
crore (Rs 80 billion), Satyam is heading for more trouble in the days ahead. O n
Wednesday, India's fourth largest IT company lost a staggering Rs 10,000 crore (Rs
100 billion) in market capitalisation as investors reacted sharply and dumped
shares, pushing down the scrip by 78 per cent to Rs 39.95 on the Bombay Stock
Exchange. The NYSE-listed firm could also face regulator action in the US.
"I am now prepared to subject myself to the laws of the land and face
consequences thereof," Raju said in a letter to SEBI and the Board of Directors,
while giving details of how the profits were inflated over the years and his
failed attempts to "fill the fictitious assets with real ones." Raju said the
company's balance sheet as of September 30 carries "inflated (non-existent) cash
and bank balances of Rs 5,040 crore (Rs 50.40 billion) as against Rs 5,361 crore
(Rs 53.61 billion) reflected in the books."