ID :
37225
Thu, 12/25/2008 - 06:41
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/37225
The shortlink copeid
Satyam barred from doing business with World Bank for 8 yrs
Washington/New Delhi, Dec 23 (PTI) The World Bank has
barred India's Satyam Computer from doing business with it for
eight years on the charges of data theft, a Bank official said
Tuesday.
"The information is true... quotes about the World Bank
on Fox News channel are correct," the Bank's spokesperson in
India told PTI when asked about the US media reports on the
debarment.
The development comes at a time when the company is
facing a probe back home over an abortive acquisition deal
involving two firms promoted by Satyam Chairman Ramalinga
Raju's family.
The World Bank debarment -- the harshest sanction the
world's largest anti-poverty agency has imposed on any company
since 2004 -- was meted out for "improper benefits to bank
staff" and "lack of documentation on invoices," said a Fox
News report, quoting Robert Van Pulley, the top World Bank
information security official.
Satyam had announced a USD 1.6 billion deal to acquire
two firms -- Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties -- promoted by
Raju's family and withdrew it within hours after shareholders'
dissent.
This was followed by market regulator Securities and
Exchange Board of India and the government saying that it
would look into the matter.
Months after "stonewalling and denying" reports that
Satyam has been barred from doing any business with the bank
for eight years, a top World Bank official has admitted that
Satyam -- one of its technology vendors -- was barred in
February and the ban has already started in September, the Fox
News report said.
The report added that Van Pulley made the comments about
Satyam debarment in a meeting and two telephone conversations
with officials of the Government Accountability Project (GAP),
a 30-year-old whistle-blowing organisation based in
Washington.
In a conversation with GAP, Van Pulley also admitted
that the Satyam case had been turned over to the US Justice
Department in 2006 as well as to the US Treasury Dept, the
report added.
"It is not known if a case against Satyam or World Bank
officials is being pursued by either government agency," it
said, adding that Van Pulley is also in charge of the bank's
procurement department, where he oversaw the Satyam contract.
"From 2003 through 2008... the World Bank paid Satyam
hundreds of millions of dollars to write and maintain all the
software used by the bank throughout its global information
network, including its back-office operations. That involved
overseeing data that ranges from accounting and personnel
records to trust funds administered for many of the world's
richest nations.
"But at the same time, Satyam was straying badly across
the bank's ethical warning lines. In 2005, the bank's chief
information officer, Mohamed Muhsin, was ousted after being
accused of improperly buying preferential stock options from
Satyam, even as he awarded the firm major contracts.
A top-secret investigation led to Muhsin being banned
permanently from the bank in January 2007. But for reasons
that remain unclear, Satyam was allowed to remain in control
of the bank's information network until early October 2008,"
the report added.
Fox News further quoted securities lawyers as saying that
"the debarment by the World Bank, one of Satyam's largest and
most important customers, should have been announced by the
company to its shareholders immediately and also filed with
the US Securities and Exchange Commission."
Quoting sources, the report said that one of the worst
breaches apparently occurred last April in the network of the
bank's super-sensitive treasury unit, which manages 70 billion
dollars in assets for 25 clients including the central banks
of some countries.
"...bank investigators had discovered that spy software
had been covertly installed on workstations inside the bank's
Washington headquarters allegedly by one or more contractors
from Satyam," Fox News said.
According to the report, Zoellick reportedly told his
deputies, "I want them off the premises now".
But at the urging of the bank's then-chief information
officer, Satyam employees remained at the bank through early
October while it engaged in a "knowledge transfer" with two
new contractors, it noted.
The report pointed out that in discussions with GAP's
officials Thursday, Van Pulley denied that Satyam was behind
any of the bank's security breaches.
"I am not in a position to tell you," adding that "we're
confident" it wasn't Satyam, the report said quoting Van
Pulley. PTI BJ
NIK
NNNN
barred India's Satyam Computer from doing business with it for
eight years on the charges of data theft, a Bank official said
Tuesday.
"The information is true... quotes about the World Bank
on Fox News channel are correct," the Bank's spokesperson in
India told PTI when asked about the US media reports on the
debarment.
The development comes at a time when the company is
facing a probe back home over an abortive acquisition deal
involving two firms promoted by Satyam Chairman Ramalinga
Raju's family.
The World Bank debarment -- the harshest sanction the
world's largest anti-poverty agency has imposed on any company
since 2004 -- was meted out for "improper benefits to bank
staff" and "lack of documentation on invoices," said a Fox
News report, quoting Robert Van Pulley, the top World Bank
information security official.
Satyam had announced a USD 1.6 billion deal to acquire
two firms -- Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties -- promoted by
Raju's family and withdrew it within hours after shareholders'
dissent.
This was followed by market regulator Securities and
Exchange Board of India and the government saying that it
would look into the matter.
Months after "stonewalling and denying" reports that
Satyam has been barred from doing any business with the bank
for eight years, a top World Bank official has admitted that
Satyam -- one of its technology vendors -- was barred in
February and the ban has already started in September, the Fox
News report said.
The report added that Van Pulley made the comments about
Satyam debarment in a meeting and two telephone conversations
with officials of the Government Accountability Project (GAP),
a 30-year-old whistle-blowing organisation based in
Washington.
In a conversation with GAP, Van Pulley also admitted
that the Satyam case had been turned over to the US Justice
Department in 2006 as well as to the US Treasury Dept, the
report added.
"It is not known if a case against Satyam or World Bank
officials is being pursued by either government agency," it
said, adding that Van Pulley is also in charge of the bank's
procurement department, where he oversaw the Satyam contract.
"From 2003 through 2008... the World Bank paid Satyam
hundreds of millions of dollars to write and maintain all the
software used by the bank throughout its global information
network, including its back-office operations. That involved
overseeing data that ranges from accounting and personnel
records to trust funds administered for many of the world's
richest nations.
"But at the same time, Satyam was straying badly across
the bank's ethical warning lines. In 2005, the bank's chief
information officer, Mohamed Muhsin, was ousted after being
accused of improperly buying preferential stock options from
Satyam, even as he awarded the firm major contracts.
A top-secret investigation led to Muhsin being banned
permanently from the bank in January 2007. But for reasons
that remain unclear, Satyam was allowed to remain in control
of the bank's information network until early October 2008,"
the report added.
Fox News further quoted securities lawyers as saying that
"the debarment by the World Bank, one of Satyam's largest and
most important customers, should have been announced by the
company to its shareholders immediately and also filed with
the US Securities and Exchange Commission."
Quoting sources, the report said that one of the worst
breaches apparently occurred last April in the network of the
bank's super-sensitive treasury unit, which manages 70 billion
dollars in assets for 25 clients including the central banks
of some countries.
"...bank investigators had discovered that spy software
had been covertly installed on workstations inside the bank's
Washington headquarters allegedly by one or more contractors
from Satyam," Fox News said.
According to the report, Zoellick reportedly told his
deputies, "I want them off the premises now".
But at the urging of the bank's then-chief information
officer, Satyam employees remained at the bank through early
October while it engaged in a "knowledge transfer" with two
new contractors, it noted.
The report pointed out that in discussions with GAP's
officials Thursday, Van Pulley denied that Satyam was behind
any of the bank's security breaches.
"I am not in a position to tell you," adding that "we're
confident" it wasn't Satyam, the report said quoting Van
Pulley. PTI BJ
NIK
NNNN
