SEBI grills Ramalinga Raju

HYDERABAD: Officials of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Wednesday interrogated the former chairman of Satyam Computers, B. Ramalinga Raju, for nearly five hours at the Chanchalguda Central Jail here.

SEBI general manager A. Sunil Kumar, who is the divisional chief for southern States, grilled Mr. Raju with the assistance of four officers.

The SEBI team walked into the jail at 9.45 a.m. and left only at 7 p.m. though the actual interrogation lasted only from 11.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a break for lunch.
Rama Raju not quizzed



Mr. Ramalinga Raju’s brother and former managing director Rama Raju was not quizzed. The SEBI has been permitted by the Supreme Court to examine the two for three days.

Officials of the market regulator did not permit Mr. Ramalinga Raju’s advocate S. Bharat Kumar to be present during the interrogation, though he entered the jail with the permission of Superintendent M. Chandrasekhar.

Later, talking to the media, Mr. Kumar took exception to the denial of legal assistance to the accused during the examination.

He held that the two accused were not in possession of records. Neither were they in a proper state of mind to depose.

He said the apex court issued ex-parte orders permitting their interrogation before these exceptions were brought to its notice.
To file petition


He said Mr. Raju’s counsel would file a petition in the Supreme Court seeking remedy.

The Crime Investigation Department picked up from the same jail suspended Price Waterhouse partners S. Gopalakrishnan and Talluri Srinivas for interrogation. They will be in its custody till Thursday afternoon.

The officials questioned the two on their job chart and whether they verified cash and bank balances of Satyam Computer Services periodically.

A senior officer told The Hindu that the focus of interrogation was on whether they properly vouched for the related party transactions under the Indian Companies Act.
Foreign remittances



Another important area of probe would be the inward foreign remittances made to the company on account of operations in 60 countries.

The role of auditors in verification of softex forms (proof of company’s turnover) submitted to the Software Technology Parks of India for claiming income-tax benefits would also come under scrutiny.