The government has finally come out with no bailout package on Thursday, at least at this stage, for Satyam Computer Services which earned bad reputation for the country last week after its former chairman B Ramalinga Raju admitted to a Rs 7,000 crore ($1.43 billion) fraud.
“We will not intervene in the affairs of the company. We are not going to subsidise the wrongdoing and fraud in Satyam. The new board appointed by the government last weekend will take the decision,” said Minister of State for Industry, Ashwani Kumar, on the sidelines of Petrotech 2009, an international conference on oil and gas.
He, however, said the government will do everything within the framework of its responsibilities to preserve and save jobs of the employees and to protect the good name of the Indian corporate sector.
“The government will try to ensure to the extent possible that the brand equity of the country and Stayam in terms of its intellectual capital is preserved and the jobs are secured to the extent possible,” he added, ruling out apprehensions that the scam at Satyam will impede the growth of the Indian software and business process outsourcing industries.
Two days ago on January 13, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had held meeting on the bailout package for Satyam Computers with senior Cabinet ministers, including deputy chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Rs 2,000 crore was said to be considered as a bailout package to ensure Satyam employees get salary on time.
Now Corporate Affairs Minister P C Gupta, who was also present in the meeting headed by PM on Jan 13, said on Thursday the board had not asked for any bailout package and that the financially viable company had enough resources and capability to continue with its affairs.
After admitting to a forgery in the Satyam Computers by its former chairman B Ramalinga Raju, the government had dissolved the then board and appointed three-member board of the company to look after the company’s affairs.
The three directors – former chief of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) Kiran Karnik, chairman of Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC) Deepak Parekh and former member of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) C. Achuthan – are now administering the functioning of Satyam.
The tainted founder and former chairman of Satyam, B Ramalingam Raju and his brother Rama Raju, co-founder and former managing director, are currently in jail, and the probe into veracity of the balance sheet and possible manipulation of its books of accounts are being conducted by different agencies, including the Serious Fraud Invetigation Office (SRIO), an entity that investigates cases of economic offences of serious nature.
|
|
Comments:
