08 January,2009 05:21 PM IST | | B F Firos
Panic-stricken employees of Satyam Computer Services have started hunting for jobs on a war-footing after the company chairman B Ramalinga Raju startled corporate India with his revelation that figures in the balance sheet were inflated.
While thousands of employees have started posting their resumes on job portals, several others are approaching placement companies. This includes more than 200 employees who have resigned during the last four days ever since things got worse.
Satyam employees are spread over India and abroad. Apart from India, Satyam has offices in Canada, the US, Brazil, the UK, China, Hungary, Egypt, the UAE, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to set up a management team to run the affairs of the company and to "restore the confidence of the global customers in its business."
Missing
Meanwhile there were reports that Ramalinga Raju has become incommunicado. Rumour mills have it that Raju had fled to Dubai or the US.
Reports said SEBI will reach Satyam's Hyderabad headquarters on Thursday for a probe into the fraud.
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Facing prison
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Legal experts feel the financial fraud may put Raju behind the bars for several years under various sections of IPC, Indian Companies Act, SEBI Act, etc, as the charges include breach of trust, misappropriation of funds, cheating and criminal conspiracy.
He may also face charges of forgery for forging books of accounts, legal expert say.
As per the Securities Contract Regulation Act of 1956, directors who falsify accounts are liable to be punished up to 10 years of imprisonment and fine up to Rs 25 crore.
In the US, Raju faces imprisonment of upto 24 years and billion-dollar penalties.
US law firm Izard Nobel LLP and ADS, investor in Satyam, have filed lawsuits against the company in a district court in New York alleging that it issued materially false and misleading statements.
