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| Ramalinga Raju | |
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| Born | September 16, 1954 Garagaparru Village, Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, India |
| Residence |  Hyderabad, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | former Chairman of Satyam Computer Services |
| Net worth | ▲ US$495 million (2004)[1]) |
| Spouse(s) | Nandhini |
Byrraju Ramalinga Raju was born on September 16, 1954 in a traditional agricultural family in Gangaparru village, near Bhimavaram in the Andhra region. He founded [[Satyam Computer Services Ltd.|Satyam Computers]and was its Chairman until January 7, 2009 when he resigned from the Satyam board after admitting to corporate fraud and cheating six million innocent shareholders some of whom have lost their entire life savings.[2][3]. Satyam was until recently perceived to be amongst the top Indian IT vendors. Raju has admitted to overstating the company's cash reserves by USD$ 1.5 billion.[4] Later, a person involved in the investigation of the company said that the company's assets were not inflated, but instead siphoned off by Ramalinga Raju. [5] Raju is currently held in Hyderabad's Chanchalguda jail on criminal charges including fraud, forgery, cheating, embezzlement and insider trading. [6]He was hospitalized in September 2009 following a heart attack.
Being an Andhraite, and having good political connection with the Andhra dominated government and bureaucracy, he is said to have acquired vast amounts of land in and around Hyderabad city at dirt cheap rates, a lot of it under benami (nameless, phoney) accounts.
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Career
Raju founded Satyam in 1987 after venturing earlier into other businesses such as construction and textiles. He started an IT company with 20 employees that obtained contracts for IT projects, mostly from US companies. Satyam rapidly developed and became a multinational company, with thousands of employees spread over many countries. Raju along with the then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandra Babu Naidu was able to obtain high scale government contracts worth of USD $1.2 Billion in Information technology for AP and Indian government. As of November 28 2009, Mr Raju has yet to appear in court to face charges.
High Scale Massive Fraud
A botched acquisition attempt involving Maytas (a company owned by his own family) in December 2008 led to a plunge in the share price of Satyam.[7] In January 2009, Raju indicated that Satyam's accounts had been falsified over a number of years.[7] He admitted to an accounting fraud to the tune of 7000 crore rupees or 1.5 Billion US Dollars and resigned from the Satyam board on January 7, 2009.[8][9] In his letter of resignation, Raju described how an initial cover-up for a poor quarterly performance escalated: "It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten."[10] Raju and his brother, B Rama Raju, were then arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police on charges of criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, cheating, falsification of records and forgery. Raju may face life imprisonment if convicted of misleading investors.[11] Raju had also opened multiple benami (dummy) accounts through relatives and friends and used them to trade in Satyam's shares, violating the insider trading norm.[12] It has now been alleged that these accounts may have been the means of siphoning off the missing funds. [5]
Awards
- Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Services Award 1999
- Dataquest IT Man of the Year Award 2000
- Asia Business Leader Award 2002
- Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 (revoked)
- Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Governance 2008 (revoked)
References
- ^ Karmali, Naazneen (12 October 2004). "India's 40 Richest". Forbes (Forbes.com Inc.). http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/77/2004/LIR.jhtml?passListId=77&passYear=2004&passListType=Person&uniqueId=ZTSF&datatype=Person. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
- ^ Bhosekar, Prasaad (7 January 2009). "Village refuses to abandon Satyam chief". Zee (Zee News Limited). http://www.zeenews.com/zeeexclusive/2009-01-07/496727news.html. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
- ^ "Text of Mr Ramalinga Raju’s statement". Business Line (The Hindu). 7 January 2009. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/businessline/blnus/05071265.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
- ^ "Indian IT scandal boss arrested". BBC News (BBC). 9 January 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7821087.stm. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
- ^ a b "Indian Executive Is Said to Have Siphoned Cash, New York Times, January 17, 2009
- ^ "Former Satyam chief Ramalinga Raju suffers heart attack, Times of India, September 9, 2009
- ^ a b Joe Leahy (08-01-2009). "The $1bn black hole at the heart of company's finances". Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/24e4d8d4-dcf1-11dd-a2a9-000077b07658.html.
- ^ Blakely, Rhys (8 January 2009). "B. Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Satyam, admits £1bn fraud and quits". The Times (London) (News International Limited). http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article5469536.ece. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
- ^ "Mr Raju's resignation letter". BBC News (BBC). 7 January 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/07.01.09_ramalingarajuletter.pdf. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
- ^ "Satyam stunner: Highs and lows of Raju's career". Reuters (CNN-IBN). January 07, 2009. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/satyam-stunner-highs-and-lows-of-rajus-career/82183-7.html?from=rssfeed. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
- ^ Blakely, Rhys (January 10, 2009). "Raju brothers charged with forgery in $1bn Satyam case". The Times (London) (News International Limited). http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article5485034.ece. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
- ^ "Raju had opened multiple benami accounts: I-T probe". NDTV (NDTV). http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090079818. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
External links
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