Govt eyes options to help Satyam,fraud to be probed

Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath,who had yesterday said the government was open to consider a financial package for Satyam,and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia also attended the review meeting,held a day after the first meeting of the three-member government-appointed board.

We apprised the Prime Minister and other ministers of the situation and what action has been taken,what is being done and what will be done, Gupta told reporters.

After its first meeting yesterday,the new Satyam board had indicated that liquidity was an immediate priority for business and restoring confidence of employees and clients.

Hours before the meeting with the PM,Gupta told reporters that the SFIO,an entity that probes economic offences of grave nature,would submit its report on Satyam in three months.

The SFIO probe was ordered after the government received a report from the Registrar of Companies,Hyderabad,which inspected the books of accounts of Satyam Computer Services and eight other companies belonging to the kin of former chairman B Ramalinga Raju. The SFIO will be looking into the entire gamut of irregularities and other related anomalies8230; the irregularities in books of accounts and other acts of commission and omission, said Gupta,adding that the agency had also been asked to go into all aspects and role of directors,promoters,Satyam company,auditors and all.

On the role of the regulator and regulation,he said,This is an issue which is also being looked into by the government. We will have detailed discussions on this.

Gupta said Corporate Affairs Secretary Anurag Goel was in constant touch with the new Satyam board and a decision to appoint more directors will be taken without delay8230; as and when required. We are working on that.

The Satyam issue also figured at the joint press conference of Pranab Mukherjee and visiting British Foreign secretary David Miliband. While Mukherjee said appropriate steps will be taken,one need not hit the panic button,Miliband maintained I do not believe that one bad apple means that the whole barrel is wrong.

I think Indias economic development has been based on real,sound macroeconomics,on entrepreneurial spirit,and on a zeal for innovation that I think has been a model in many ways to many parts of the world8230; I am sure that Indian authorities will deal with the recent case,todays case,very clearly and very appropriately and already are doing so. And so,I think it will be quite a wrong lesson to learn that this problem is one that points to a wider contagion8230; It needs to be addressed on its own merits. And,of course,the Indian laws in respect of corporate governance need to be implemented in a hardheaded and clear way, Miliband said.

Meanwhile,GMR Infrastructure today said T R Prasad,one of the independent directors of the disbanded Satyam board,had resigned from its board of directors. He has resigned from the board due to personal reasons, said a spokesperson of GMR Group.

A former Cabinet Secretary,Prasad was one of the independent directors in the disbanded board who had expressed his views on the controversial 1.6 billion dollar Satyam-Maytas aborted deal.

Immediately after the deal,Prasad insisted that the then Satyam board had given only in-principle approval and final go-ahead was required upon consideration of valuation.

Ramalinga Raju,while disclosing his Rs 7,800 crore financial fraud,had identified Prasad as one person who was well-placed to mobilise support from the government at this crucial time.

With agencies