| Ramalinga Raju | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 16, 1954 Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, India |
| Residence | Hyderabad, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | former Chairman of Satyam Computer Services |
| Spouse | Nandhini |
Ramalinga Raju is a former Indian IT Industrialist, who founded Satyam Computers in 1987 and was a Chairman of the company until January 7, 2009.
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Ramalinga Raju was born on September 16, 1954 in a family of farmers. He did his B. Com from Andhra Loyola College at Vijayawada and subsequently did his MBA from Ohio University, USA. He was enrolled in the Executive Owner/President Management Program (OPM) at Harvard Business School.[1]
After returning to India in 1977, Ramalinga Raju moved away from the traditional agriculture business and set up a spinning and weaving mill named Sri Satyam. . Thereafter he shifted to the real estate business and started a construction company called Satyam Constructions. In 1987, Ramalinga Raju founded Satyam Computer Services along with one of his brothers-in-law, DVS Raju. The company went public in 1992. With the launch of Satyam Infoway (Sify) Satyam became one of the first to enter Indian internet service market.[2]
Ramalinga Raju resigned from the Satyam board after admitting to cheating six million shareholders.[3][4] After being held in Hyderabad's Chanchalguda jail on charges including cheating, embezzlement and insider trading, Raju was granted bail on 18 August 2010.[5]
A botched acquisition attempt involving Maytas in December 2008 led to a plunge in the share price of Satyam.[6] In January 2009, Raju indicated that Satyam's accounts had been falsified over a number of years.[6] He admitted to an accounting dupery to the tune of 7000 crore rupees or 1.5 Billion US Dollars and resigned from the Satyam board on January 7, 2009.[7][8] In his letter of resignation, Raju described how an initial cover-up for a poor quarterly performance escalated: "It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten."[9]
Raju and his brother, B Rama Raju, were then arrested by the CID Andhra Pradesh police headed by Mr. V S K Kaumudi, IPS on charges of breach of trust, conspiracy, cheating, falsification of records. Raju may face life imprisonment if convicted of misleading investors.[10] Raju had also used dummy accounts to trade in Satyam's shares, violating the insider trading norm.[11]
It has now been alleged that these accounts may have been the means of siphoning off the missing funds.[12] Raju has admitted to overstating the company's cash reserves by USD$ 1.5 billion.[12][13] Raju was hospitalized in September 2009 following a minor heart attack and underwent angioplasty. Raju was granted bail on condition that he should report to the local police station once a day and that he shouldn't attempt to tamper with the current evidence. This bail was revoked on 26 October 2010 by the Supreme Court of India and he has been ordered to surrender by 8 November 2010.[14] The people of his native village, Garagaparru, hail the development works undertaken by the Byrraju Foundation, the charitable arm of Satyam.[15]Ramalinga Raju was Granted a bail by the supreme court on 4th november 2011 after the Central Bureau of investigation failed to chargesheet Raju within the statutory period.[16]
The Supreme Court on November 4,2011 granted bail to Ramalinga Raju, founder and former chairman of outsourcing firm Satyam Computer Services Ltd, in a $1.5 billion financial fraud case, after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) failed to file charges on time.[17] Mr. Raju said that INR 50.4 billion , or $1.04 billion, of the 53.6 billion rupees in cash and bank loans the company listed in assets at the end of its second quarter that ended in September 2008 were nonexistent