Mah Satyam to challenge ED order attaching Rs 822 cr FDs

Hyderabad: IT services provider Mahindra Satyam, erstwhile Satyam Computer, will

challenge the order of Enforcement Directorate attaching its fixed deposits worth Rs 822 crore in connection with money laundering case related to the company’s previous management.

The ED had attached the funds as part of its investigation into the accounting scam allegedly purported by Satyam’s founder B Ramalinga Raju.

Scandal-hit Satyam was acquired by Tech Mahindra and renamed it as Mahindra Satyam in 2009.

[caption id=“attachment_508934” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Vineet Nayyar, Satyam’s chairman, said there were never any funds left in the company by the earlier management and there was no way the scam proceeds can remain in the company’s accounts.[/caption]

Earlier this month, the Enforcement Directorate had issued attachment orders freezing fixed deposits of Mahindra Satyam in connection with its probe into the case of money laundering by its previous management headed by B Ramalinga Raju. The ED attached the accounts of Satyam Computer Services Ltd as its probe found that Raju and his associates “wrongfully” offloaded inflated shares of the said company by way of sale or pledging of shares, the ED order alleged.

“We will file an appeal. We are going to challenge it …That money (which Raju claims to have brought in) had already been spent when we took over,” Mahindra Satyam

Chairman Vineet Nayyar said. “In fact the situation was so bad when the government

directors were appointed they had to borrow Rs 450 crore to pay salaries in USA. The money which was never available to us cannot be seen as debt on us,” Nayyar said in a press conference after announcing company’s second quarter results.

Trail of loans derived from front companies revealed that Rs 822 crore out of Rs 2171.45 crore found their way to Satyam Computers and were used for day-to-day expenses like payment of salaries among others, ED had said in its order.

Replying to query, Nayyar said the final outcome of the ED attachment issue will not have impact on the swap ratio for MSat merger into Tech Mahindra. He said the merger process is going as per schedule and they are waiting the approval of Andhra Pradesh High Court.

PTI