Nearly six years after news of the ₹14,000-crore Satyam Computer Services fraud broke, its founder-chairman B Ramalinga Raju, his brother and former Managing Director Rama Raju and two others were convicted in the scam by the Special Judge for Economic Offences on Monday.
The Rajus, former director Ram Mynampati and former CFO Srinivas Vadlamani have been sentenced to six months in jail in four of the seven cases filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).
Raju and 10 others have also been slapped with different fines in different cases. Krishna G Palepu (former director) has been fined ₹2.26 crore.
All the main accused were in court when the judgment was pronounced. One case was struck down. The convicts have been given a month’s time to appeal.
This is the first verdict in the six-year-old fraud, which shook the nation and the corporate world.
This, however, doesn’t cover the whole gamut of the offence. The main judgment in the case is expected to be delivered on December 23.
The accused executives have been charged with forgery, cheating, criminal conspiracy, money laundering and criminal breach of trust under several sections of the Indian Penal Code.