Fin wizard, IT whizkid, wily investigator form Satyam Board

New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) In what could be construed as clever thinking, the government Sunday put together for Satyam a three-member board that comprises a financial wizard, an IT genius and a wily investigator - the brains needed to turn inside out the scam tainted company and clear the mess.

True to the saying that only a qualified engineer could
be a demolition expert, the Indian government has chosen the
best brains in their chosen areas - Deepak Parekh of HDFC,
former Nasscom president Kiran Karnik and a former Securities
Appellate Tribunal presiding officer and legal adviser to
Government, C Achuthan - for the Board that will formally meet
Monday.

The three experts would have a legitimate claim to seek
every piece of paper or bit of information that could be
related to the Rs 7,800 crore financial fraud that was
disclosed by Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju on Wednesday.

The trio could prove conducive to investigation being
carried out by teams from market regulator Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Serious Fraud Investigation
Office (SFIO) of Corporate Affairs Ministry.

"The board is expected to meet within 24 hours and decide
(the) further course of action," Corporate Affairs Minister
Prem Chand Gupta told reporters at a press conference and
added more members would be appointed to the Satyam board.

The government on Friday sacked the board of Satyam.
According to Company Law Board, the new board of the IT major
can have a maximum of 10 members.

On a question if the state government would involve
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the probe on account
of the enormity of the fraud, Indian eastern state Andhra
Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy told reporters in
Hyderabad that "nothing prevents CBI from inquiring into
this... nothing on earth prevents any other law enforcement
agency from inquiring into them." PTI DP