Maytas chief executive resigns from board

Hyderabad, Jan 19 (IANS) P.K. Madhav, chief executive of Maytas Infra, promoted by disgraced founder and former chairman of Satyam Computer Services B. Ramalinga Raju, resigned as whole-time director of the board, the company said Monday.

In a notification to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the listed firm said Madhav had resigned from directorship and as CEO of the company Jan 14 'owing to personal reasons'.

The Hyderabad-based infrastructure company is one of the two realty firms that are run by the two sons of Raju, who is the chief promoter with 36 percent equity holding.

The aborted bid to acquire the two firms - Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties - for $1.6 billion (Rs.79.2 billion/Rs.7,920 crore) by the fraud-tainted Satyam led to unprecedented crisis in the global software major, resulting in a spate of resignations by four directors and subsequently Raju.

Incidentally, Madhav, a former director of the tainted Nagarjuna Finance (NFL), was jailed last year along with his former NFL chairman K.S. Raju in a criminal case of defrauding depositors to the tune of millions of rupees. They were recently shifted to a hospital on medical grounds.

Since the Satyam fiasco came to light Jan 7 after Raju admitted to having committed a Rs.70-billion (Rs.7,000-crore/$1.43 billion) accounting fraud over the years, Maytas activities have come under scrutiny, with enforcement agencies probing its accounts and various deals.

The Andhra Pradesh government had awarded a number of infrastructure projects in the state to the tune of Rs.380 billion (Rs.38,000 crore). The projects include the prestigious Hyderabad Metro Rail and the Machilipatnam deep water port in the coastal region.

Maytas, a reverse form of Satyam, is also executing several packages in major irrigation projects worth Rs.14 billion (Rs.1400 crore). The infrastructure company is also building three IT Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and integrated townships in Hyderabad.

Earlier in the day, Vedanta Aluminium, a subsidiary of the London-based Vedanta Resources, confirmed to IANS that it had terminated a contract awarded to Maytas Infra to develop a Rs.233-crore (Rs.2.33-billion) integrated township project in Orissa.

The Orissa government too has said it will review projects awarded to Maytas Infra in the state.

Maytas Infra's non-executive director and chairman R.C. Sinha has already resigned.