Satyam scamster Raju Ramalinga gets bail

About a year and a half ago, he fell from the lap of luxury to the pit of a prison cell, only to end up soon in the luxury ward of a hospital.

But B Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced founder of infotech firm Satyam Computer Services, is formally getting bits of his former life back. The Andhra Pradesh high court has granted him bail.

Wednesday’s development means all 10 accused in the Rs10,000-crore Satyam scam — the country’s biggest corporate fraud — are out of jail.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has been probing the scam through a multi-disciplinary investigation team (MDIT), argued that Raju — the prime accused in the case — is capable of influencing witnesses, particularly those from within the company, but the court did not agree. After hearing the argument, justice Raja Elango granted Raju conditional bail on the production of two sureties worth Rs20 lakh each. The court told him to continue residing in Hyderabad.

The CBI is getting ready to file an application seeking the cancellation of the bail in the Supreme Court. It has already filed an application on the cancellation of bails granted to Raju’s brother former Satyam MD B Rama Raju and ex-CFO Vadlamani Srinivas. This application is yet to come up for hearing in the apex court.

“The accused will have to present himself before the investigating officers regularly after getting discharged from hospital. He will also have to appear in the trial court during every session without fail after his discharge,” said the judge, who made it clear that the bail was not on health grounds.

But the judge allowed him to skip court appearances till his discharge from hospital, where he is being treated for hepatitis C-related ailments.

Raju was arrested on January 9, 2009, two days after he confessed to an accounting fraud in the company. The confession was preceded by a foiled attempt to merge two companies — Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties — promoted by his sons and other family members. Raju had to call off the proposed merger after facing the wrath of the investor community for trying to deviate from the core business of Satyam — information technology — to diversify into property development and construction.

In September 2009, he was admitted to the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) after he complained of chest pain. NIMS doctors also declared him to be infected with hepatitis C and advised him prolonged hospital stay.

On July 20, five of the accused, including Raju’s brother and former Satyam managing director B Rama Raju, ex-CFO Vadlamani Srinivas and three officials of the firm’s accounting department were released on bail by the same court. Raju filed for bail following their release.

“The investigation in the case has not progressed beyond what Raju stated in his letter to the market regulator on January 7, 2009. Though the prosecution had alleged that the accused had siphoned off money from the company, it is still not able to prove it,” Bharat Kumar, Raju’s counsel, argued while moving the bail application. “The CBI claimed that letters rogatory were sent to some foreign nations and they were awaiting response. There is no indication of the trial beginning in the near future. So, there is no point in detaining Raju, who is suffering from serious health problems.”

Raju had moved court thrice earlier for bail, including the filing of an application in the Supreme Court. But the petitions were rejected.