Satyam board to meet tomorrow

The meeting of the six-member board, which was nominated by the government to stabilise the fraud-devastated Satyam Computer Services, has been deferred to January 27, “as it is working on some other issues to salvage the company from the current crisis”, according to Hari Thalapalli, head-global marketing and communications, Satyam.

The board was scheduled to meet on Monday and Tuesday – its fourth meet since it was installed on January 12 – to finalise the appointment of the chief executive officer and chief financial officer besides mopping up additional funding. The third meeting held on January 22-23, however, remained inconclusive.

The board is currently working on everything to give a lifeline to the cash-strapped company, “including talking to Satyam employees, clients and banks”, Hari said.

The new board, following its January 22-23 meet, had said in a statement that funding arrangements are in the final stages of being concluded, which will address the company's cash-flow problems till the end of March 2009.

“The immovable properties of the company, including all campuses owned by it, are free of any encumbrance and collections from the receivables have been robust. A formal announcement on funding to tide over the ongoing requirements for operational expenses, including salaries and vendor payments, is expected before January 28,” the board had said.

Satyam needs about Rs 500 crore a month for salaries.

Refuting the prosecutors’ arguments that Satyam had only 40,000 associates and not around 53,000, Hari said, “We have done an internal verification and there is no reason to doubt the existing numbers.”