Satyam gets notices from 37 companies

Satyam gets notices from 37 companies
In what could be a major setback for the Mahindras as well as the restatement of Satyam accounts, Mahindra Satyam has received legal notices from 37 companies staking claim to a refund of Rs 1230.4 crore that was allegedly given as a temporary advance to the then Satyam Computer Services.

"The notices have claimed the return of money to 'repay creditors', some of whom include Maytas Properties Ltd and Maytas Infra Ltd", Mahindra Satyam said in a filing to the bourses on Tuesday.

Mahindra Satyam also told the bourses that it had replied to the legal notices on November 14, 2009, stating that the claims were "legally untenable". The company also said that Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju's confession letter dated January 7, 2009, too had made a reference to "a net amount of Rs 1,230 crore arranged to the company by the 37 companies".

Incidentally, after the Satyam scam broke out, Raju's younger brother Suryanarayana Raju too is learnt to have written a letter to Satyam, seeking a refund of over Rs 1,200 crore which he claimed were given by Raju family-owned private companies.

Recently, even Maytas Infra's new owner-- IL&FS-- has written to Mahindra Satyam, giving proof of a transfer of Rs 20 crore through two front companies — Angeerasa Greenfields and Saptaswara AgroFarm — on July 31, 2008, into Satyam accounts through the Hyderabad branch of Axis Bank.

The IL&FS letter is also understood to have asked Mahindra Satyam to show the money as debt in their accounts, which are being restated by KPMG. The Mahindras, incidentally, have got an extension up to June 30, 2010, for submitting the restated Satyam accounts to various regulatory authorities.

It was government-appointed director on the board of Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties, Ved Jain, who had disclosed in July that the two companies had given Rs 392 crore and Rs 220 crore respectively to Satyam via privately- owned companies.
POSTED BY:-
SHILPI KUMARI
PGDM:-3rd SEM