The Supreme Court on Tuesday permitted the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to interrogate former Satyam chief, Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, and his brother, Mr B. Rama Raju, in connection with the Rs 8,000-crore scam.
The interrogation of the Rajus will be conducted by Sebi over three days from Wed-nesday in Hyderabad.While interrogating the Rajus, Sebi would be probing if there was any insider trading angle to the fraud since Mr Raju had disclosed falsifying profits for years — which would have helped inflate share prices.
A bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices P. Sathasivam and J.M. Panchal permitted Mr Sunil Kumar, general manager, Sebi, who has been appointed as investigating officer by the market watchdog, to interrogate the two brothers.
The bench said Mr Sunil Kumar would apprise the Chanchalguda jail superintendent in advance of the names of his colleagues who would be accompanying him to interrogate the two. The Solicitor-General, Mr Goolam E. Vahanvati, told the court that Sebi would only question the Rajus and did not want their custody.
In another development, a delegation from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will meet Sebi and the Satyam Board to gather information on the Satyam scandal. “The SEC team will meet Sebi officials here tomorrow (Wednesday) to update itself about recent developments regarding the fraud-hit IT major, whose shares are also listed at the New York Stock Exchange,” a source said.
The team will meet the new board of Satyam Computer in Hyderabad on Thursday. US investors have filed over a dozen law suits against the company in various US courts.
