Satyam founder Raju, brother get 7-yr jail, fined ` 5.5cr each

Court says white collar crimes need to be seen as grave offences

HYDERABAD: A special CBI court sentenced former Satyam chief B Ramalinga Raju and his brother on Thursday to seven years in jail and fined them Rs5.5 crore each for forging documents and falsifying accounts in the country’s biggest-ever corporate accounting fraud scandal.

Raju, once the poster boy of the IT industry, fell from grace in 2009 when he confessed in a letter to shareholders about overstating profits for years and inflating the company’s balance sheet, sending shockwaves through the sector.

He has already spent 32 months in jail in connection with the scam that caused an estimated loss of Rs14,162 crore to investors, according to CBI.

“I am of the opinion that a case involving economic offences, hav- ing a deep-rooted conspiracy and causing a huge loss of investor money, needs to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences affecting the reputation of the corporate system of the country as a whole and the economy of the country. It is not a fit case for taking a lenient view on the quantum of sentence,” judge BVLN Chakravarthy said, rejecting ecting a plea of leniency because use of Raju’s philanthropic c activities.

Other than Rajus, eight others, including former CFO Srinivas Vadlamani, former PricewaterhouseCooper er auditors S Gopalakrishnan nan and Talluri Srinivas — were also sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment and fined over Rs 25 lakh each.

>> CONTINUED ON P8

>> RELATED REPORTS, P13