The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Satyam auditors’ bail plea rejected again

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Tuesday, Feb 17, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Satyam auditors’ bail plea rejected again

Special Correspondent

Satyam reports revenue of
Rs. 2,700 crore for second quarter of this fiscal

HYDERABAD: A court here again dismissed the bail applications of Price Waterhouse, auditors of Satyam, for the second time this month, in the fraud case involving the group.

In rejecting the plea of S. Gopalakrishnan and Talluri Srinivas, the Sixth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate D. Ramakrishna held that there was no change in the circumstances warranting grant of bail to the auditors since their earlier petitions. He reserved for Wednesday orders on a petition by the Income-Tax Department to question in jail former Satyam Computers chairman B. Ramalinga Raju.

The I-T official informed the court that the balance sheet of the company as on September 30, 2008, was the subject matter of pending assessment. It’s former chairman needed to be questioned about inflated (non-existent) cash and bank balance of Rs. 5,040 crore, against Rs. 5,361 crore reflected in the books of accounts. The accrued interest of Rs. 376 crore which was also non-existent, understated liability of Rs. 1,230 crore and overstated debtor position of Rs. 490 crore, against Rs. 2,651 crore reflected in the books should be probed.

Time sought

The company reported a revenue of Rs. 2,700 crore and an operating margin of Rs. 649 crore (24 per cent of revenues), against the actual revenue of Rs. 2,112 crore and an actual operating margin of Rs. 61 crore for the second quarter of this financial year. This resulted in artificial cash and bank balances going up by Rs. 588 crore . The I-T counsel sought at least three days to question Mr. Raju .

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