New Satyam chargesheet: Khurshid says court to decide

Amid reports that the Satyam accounting fraud could be as high as Rs 14,000 crore, nearly double of what was confessed by its founder B Ramalinga Raju, the government today remained tight-lipped and said the real amount would be brought before the court of law.

"Let's hope everything that has to be placed before the court is done for the purpose of proving criminal culpability; which ultimately has to be proved in the court. Let me not say something that will weaken our case or help the other side," Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said when asked whether the scam could be worth Rs 14,000 crore.

Industry sources, however, said the purported amount of Rs 14,000 crore is an overall amount expected to have been lost by investors in the stock market and will have no bearing on the financial health of the company.

The minister further said that it is unfair to comment on a matter that is subjudice. "I think we should leave to the investigating agencies. Whatever they discover, they will take action on it, so we must trust them. One must neither speculate, nor close any possibilities... The court must take a view and we must not take a public view," Khurshid added.

The CBI had filed a second chargesheet yesterday in the multi-crore Satyam scam against its founder chairman B Ramalinga Raju, and others, including the recently arrested internal auditor V S Prabhakar Gupta.