Besieged Satyam board to meet Saturday

Hyderabad, Jan 7 (IANS) The besieged board of Satyam Computer Services Ltd will meet Saturday to discuss the various issues that rocked the IT bellwether since the Maytas deal fiasco Dec 16, culminating in the dramatic resignation of its co-founders who admitted to a massive revenue fraud in the company over the years.

'The board will meet as re-scheduled on Jan 10 to discuss the issues related to the company’s operations and the fallout of today’s events and actions thereby,' Satyam interim CEO and whole-time director Ram Mynampati said in a statement here late Wednesday.

With the resignation of founder chairman B. Ramalinga Raju and managing director B. Rama Raju earlier in the day and the exit of four independent directors - Mangalam Srinivasan, Vinod K. Dham, M. Rammohan Rao and Krishna G. Palepu - earlier, the strength of the nine-member Satyam board is reduced to just three - T.R. Prasad, V.S. Raju and Mynapati.

Though the two co-founder directors have resigned, they will attend the meeting as they have been asked to continue in their position till such time the board is expanded.

Expressing shock and distress over the disclosures made by Raju, the interim CEO said he empathised with the pain all the stakeholders would be going through in light of events and developments that took place in the company over the last three weeks.

'The most important thing is to address the interest of all stakeholders, including employees, customers and suppliers. The senior management team has come together to assess the impact of the disclosures and take specific steps to ensure continuity of operations across geographies,' Mynampati asserted.

Mynampati also clarified that the day-long events in the company were limited to one specific organisation and should in no way be construed as issues relating to the broader Indian IT industry, which continues to thrive and succeed in a broader competitive landscape.

'I want to assure all the stakeholders that their interests will be protected and addressed by the company,' he added.