CLB bars Raju and others from selling shares, properties

New Delhi/Mumbai, Jan 21 (PTI) Worried that the erstwhile
Satyam management might liquidate assets, India's Company Law Board Wednesday directed founder Ramalinga Raju and four others not to sell shares and other properties without its permission.

Debunking speculation that government has approached the
CLB to supercede the board of Maytas Infra, also promoted by
Raju's family, Corporate Affairs Minister P C Gupta told
reporters here that "we have not done that."

He said the CLB, in its order passed on an application
filed by the government, also directed Raju, his brother Rama
Raju, ex-director Ram Mynampati, former CFO Vadlamani Srinivas
and company secretary G J Jayaraman to disclose their bank
accounts and properties in India and abroad by February 22.

The Raju brothers and Srinivas are already in police
custody.

Separately, market regulator SEBI directed promoters of
all listed companies to disclose if they have pledged their
shares after the Satyam experience, wherein Raju had
hypothecated with lenders nearly all his shares, whose price
he had inflated by falsifying books of accounts.

According to the CLB order, "They (Raju and others) shall
not alienate, charge, mortgage or sell any of their shares,
securities and fixed assets, without leave of the CLB, till
disposal of the main petition."

Gupta said that government filed an application to ensure
"that the persons who were at the helm of affairs of Satyam
are not allowed to profit or otherwise gain from any diversion
or siphoning off funds from Satyam."

The government had filed the main application on January
9 to supercede the board of Satyam and appoint its own
nominees, following the disclosure of a Rs 7,800 crore fraud
by Raju.

When asked about the possibility of engineering giant
Larsen & Toubro taking over Satyam, Gupta said, "Today, the
priority before the new board is to bring back Satyam on its
footing so that the fear and the crisis the company is having
about their employees, their customers, their clients is taken
care of."

Earlier in the day, Gupta had said that many corporates
were interested in Satyam, but added that the Government has
not taken any view of that.

SEBI Chairman C B Bhave said in Mumbai that details of
disclosure of pledged shares should be made in two stages --
event-based and periodical. The new norm would be notified
shortly after amending the relevant regulations and listing
agreements, he told reporters.

Although Raju disclosed that the fraud was to the tune of
Rs 7,800 crore, a SEBI team that landed in Hyderabad on
January 8 has not been able to access him to verify his claim.

Raju, his brother Rama Raju and Satyam's former CFO
Vadlamani Srinivas were arrested on January 9 and sent to
police custody on January 18.

The police are seeking extension of custody and their
plea would be decided tomorrow by a Hyderabad court, which
would also determine if the SEBI team can interrogate Raju.

Bhave said the board meeting also reviewed the progress
made so far in the investigations in the matter of Satyam.

The regulator is yet to launch any formal investigation
into the alleged irregularities in Raju family-owned Maytas
Infra, he said.

"We haven't yet formally ordered any investigation on
Maytas Infra," Bhave said. PTI TEAM