Satyam's board to meet on Saturday to discuss fund raising

Hyderabad/New Delhi, Jan 16 (PTI) India's beleaguered IT
major Satyam's expanded board will meet Saturday with the
focus on raising funds to keep the business alive and may also
have to deal with complaints on its choice of auditor to
restate the company's financials.

The board, whose strength was doubled with appointment of
three members by the government Thursday, would meet to find
ways to insulate the company's stakeholders from the impact of
a Rs 7,800 crore fraud disclosed by its founder Ramalinga Raju
last week.

"The priority is... to safeguard the interest of
employees, customers and investors," board member Tarun Das
said Friday.

Das, also chief mentor of industry body CII, was Thursday
appointed along with T N Manoharan and S Balakrishna Mainak to
the board, which already has Deepak Parekh, Kiran Karnik and C
Achuthan as members.

Parekh has said the company can raise funds by mortgaging
assets, besides having receivables of nearly Rs 1,700 crore.

The board, which has roped in auditors KPMG and Deloitte
to restate the IT firm's books, is also expected to elect its
chairman and also launch a search for a new CEO and a CFO.

Meanwhile, chartered accountants regulator ICAI President
Ved Jain told reporters: "We have written to Satyam board that
KPMG cannot be appointed auditor... as they are not our
members. We expect the board will consider the issue..."

A KPMG spokesperson said: "It is our understanding that
the scope of work (at Satyam)... is not reserved for CAs
registered with the ICAI."

The company's scrip settled 20.44 per cent higher at Rs
24.45 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

A Hyderabad court, meanwhile, posted the bail plea of Raju
for hearing on January 19, the same day as a prayer by
regulator SEBI for interrogating the IT company's founder and
two others.

The court also reserved its order on the police's
petition seeking custody Raju, his brother Rama Raju and
Satyam's former CFO Vadlamani Srinivas for seven days.

The board held its first meeting on January 11 when it
met with senior Satyam executives to assess the company's
health in the wake of Raju's revelation that he had been
cooking the company's books for years.

Satyam's statutory auditor Price Waterhouse, which is
under attack for overlooking the fraud at Satyam, Friday lost
its mandate as the knowledge partner for industry body Ficci's
flagship annual entertainment event -- FRAME.

"From this year, Ficci has partnered with international
auditing firm KPMG for FRAMES," a senior official of the
chamber said.

Elsewhere, trouble was brewing for other Raju-family
promoted companies.

Government-run trading firm MMTC decided to withdraw from
equity participation in a firm to be promoted by Maytas Group
for setting up a multi-services Special Economic Zone.

"In view of the recent developments related to Satyam
Computer Services... the board of directors of MMTC at its
meeting today reconsidered the investment proposal," MMTC
said.

The CPI-M separately demanded that the about 17,500 acres
of land given to Satyam and two Maytas companies by the Andhra
Pradesh government be confiscated and that the proceeds be
used to pay the salaries of the IT company's 53,000 employees.
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