Sapna Dogra: Getting to Satyam's satya

A post-graduate degree in economics from the prestigious Delhi School of Economics, and a two-year stint as the Director General of Investigation and Research at the Ministry of Company Affairs. It’s unlikely you’ll get, in the government system at least, a better bio-data than this for someone who has to crack the Rs 7,000-crore Satyam Computer Services fraud. On January 13, on the basis of the Registrar of Companies’ report on Satyam, the government asked the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and its director, Ajay Nath, to solve the case.

Though SFIO, which Nath has headed since 2006, has investigated over 750 cases since its inception six years ago, none of these has really been ‘live’ in any sense of the term — most have pertained to crimes committed several years ago — with the trail, to a large extent, gone cold. This has also played a role in SFIO not getting any verdict in its favour so far.

The other reason, of course, is the lengthy judicial process that, like any other case, SFIO cases also have to go through. Satyam represents the first ‘live’ case SFIO has been asked to handle. Within six days of Ramalinga Raju’s ‘confession’, the SFIO team was in Hyderabad — an unheard of speed in government decision-making and an indicator of just how quickly results are wanted.

Though most of this 1982-batch Madhya Pradesh cadre officer’s career has been spent in the fields of finance and corporate affairs (he’s also had a three-year stint with the Asian Development Bank), cracking the Satyam case will be the most daunting task Nath’s ever undertaken — what makes it more pressure-cooker is that the entire nation is desperately waiting for the results.

The investigation, however, is certain to take a long time — with so much land owned by Raju’s personal companies, for instance, it is possible there will be scores, if not hundreds, of front companies whose accounts SFIO will have to go through.

Nath’s immediate problem will be the extreme staff shortage SFIO faces — the Ministry of Company Affairs has ‘lent’ SFIO some investigators for the time being. As a result, people have already begun expressing doubts as to whether SFIO will be able to come out with its investigation report on Satyam within three months. SFIO is so short-staffed it doesn’t even have anyone to interact with the media on the case — this could, of course, also turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Nath, according to colleagues, is a voracious reader with the gift of the gab. “He can talk on any topic under the sun for hours on end,” says a former colleague. He’s also a great tennis player, loves football and, according to those who’ve worked with him, a meticulous planner.

Given the nature of the hurdles in the case and the multiplicity of investigating authorities, all these are qualities that will come in handy. Whether they’ll be enough, however, is something we’ll have to wait and see.