The probe that was directed at the fraud committed by the founders of Satyam is now getting drifted into a different direction. More than Satyam’s accounts and its balance sheets, it is Maytas that’s attracting the attention of sleuths now.
The investigators are amazed at some alleged cross-links between Satyam and Maytas.
While it might take some more time for the investigators to establish the link between the entities — either for diversion of funds or with any other motive — the initial findings seem to point at an undercurrent of fraud involving both the companies.
The sleuths are dissecting the land deals of Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties.
According to the findings, the Rajus, through Maytas, seem to have dealt with several land dealers with reasonable political clout. One such politician-cum-land dealer with a base in Nalgonda and activities on the outskirts of Hyderabad is under lens now.
“The land deals between Maytas and this man must have been done through general power of attorneys (GPAs) and not directly.
'The secrecy in these deals allows one to suspect a fraud. It’s still early days to nail down things,” a source explained.
The central probe teams, particularly the Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO), too, is now busy scanning the records of Maytas more than those of Satyam. The ministry of corporate affairs said it would obtain information, records, books and papers from the two Maytas companies to investigate the frauds in Satyam.
“By powers under the Companies Act, 1956, we have approved and authorised the SFIO inspectors to obtain such books, records, papers as they deem necessary from Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra,” Prem Chand Gupta, minister of corporate affairs, said in a media briefing.
Satyam’s board directors including Deepak Parekh, Kiran Karnik and Tarun Das met prime minister Manmohan Singh and corporate affairs minisiter Gupta to discuss the developments in Satyam, according to government official.
“The root cause of Satyam fiasco is expected to be in Maytas. But like in any land dealings, the dealings of Maytas or other companies floated by the Raju family have several cross connections. First of all, one has to find out the reason why the Raju family floated so many agro companies. Most of the private firms floated by the Raju family are agro or agri-related firms. The reconstruction of this fact is taking time,” the source explained.
Meanwhile, another NYSE-listed company in Hyderabad - Dr Reddy’s Lab - too is found to have bought about 100 acres on the outskirts of Hyderabad from Satyam. The land belonging to Sify, when it was a part of Satyam, has been bought by the pharma major, though the pricing and the actual reason for such a purchase are not known. The investigators are also looking at this deal though, on the face of it, the transaction is legally valid in all respects.
(With Vivek Seal in New Delhi)
