CBI arrests Satyam's finance VP, 2 others

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has made its first arrests in the Satyam Computer Services scam probe. The agency last night took into custody the company’s Vice-President (Finance) G Ramakrishna and two employees in the finance department, D Venkatapathi Raju and Srisailam.

VV Lakshminarayana, DIG, CBI, said the three were charged with preparing fake monthly bank statements and related documents. The investigating agency would file a formal chargesheet in the case on Thursday, he said.

G Ramakrishna’s name had come out in the questioning of Satyam’s former chief financial officer (CFO), Vadlamani Srinivas, who is among the six people arrested earlier by the Andhra Pradesh police’s crime branch, before the probe was transferred to the CBI. The other five are Satyam’s founder-chief, Ramalinga Raju, whose January 7 confession set off the investigation, his brother Rama Raju, two Price Waterhouse auditors and another official.

Srinivas was questioned over the weekend by a three-member panel of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India led by its president, Uttam Agarwal. Agarwal said Srinivas denied creating fake documents, stressing that the fraud was masterminded by the Raju brothers and he only acted on their instructions.

Meanwhile, the CBI petition seeking to subject Ramalinga Raju and the other accused to a lie-detector test would be heard again tomorrow. Today’s hearing was inconclusive. Today, the defence counsel argued the test was not needed and, in any case, his clients had a constitutional right to remain silent.

The Enforcement Directorate, which has separately registered a money laundering case against Ramalinga Raju and the others, also filed a petition in the court today seeking permission to question the Raju brothers, Srinivas and the two auditors. Bail pleas of all the five accused in this case will also be heard tomorrow.