Satyam Raju imprisoned for 7 years

Today one of the biggest IT scandals in India saw its closure with the special court sentencing Satyam Ramalinga Raju, the founder and former chairman of Satyam Computer Services, to seven years in jail with a fine of Rs.5 crores.

The court found him and 9 others guilty of criminal conspiracy and cheating. The special court named B. Rama Raju, the former chairman’s brother who was the company's managing director at the time, Vadlamani Srinivas, former chief financial officer, former PwC auditors Subramani Gopalakrishnan and T. Srinivas, of being guilty in the case. Along with them, Ramalinga's another brother B. Suryanarayana Raju, former employees G. Ramakrishna, D. Venkatpathi Raju and Ch. Srisailam, and the company’s former internal chief auditor V. S. Prabhakar Gupta were also found guilty of fraud.

The collapse of Satyam Computers in 2009 had cost shareholders more than $2bn. Ramalinga, who has so far spent 32 months in jail, is the prime accused in the case and the latest verdict is the third conviction for him. Satyam had about 40,000 staff in 2009, with presence in 66 countries and 185 Fortune 500 clients. In the same year the fraud revelations were made when Raju resigned from Satyam after admitting the overstated profits. The Indian government then forwarded the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after suspending the company's board and electing a new one. It was not until April 2014 that the special court found Satyam Raju and nine others guilty.