Satyam gets refund notices from 37 firms

Claim repayment of ‘temporary advance’ worth $265 million

Satyam Computer Services (rebranded Mahindra Satyam) has received legal notices from 37 companies claiming a refund of $265 million (approximately Rs 1,230 crore), allegedly given as temporary advance.

Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju’s confession letter on January 7, 2009, also refers to a net amount of Rs 1,230 crore arranged for Satyam by the 37 companies.

“We have received these legal notices during the last one week to 10 days. Our internal legal cell, on November 14, has replied to each of these notices, saying these claims are legally untenable,” a senior Satyam official told Business Standard, preferring anonymity.

It may be recalled that the Serious Fraud Investigation Office, which is examining the financial fraud committed by Raju and his family, said in April this year that there was no ‘extra liability’ of Rs 1,230 crore in the books of Satyam.

PTI adds: Earlier, in June, while disclosing the financials for the October-December 2008 quarter and the first two months of 2009, Satyam had said that 37 companies had made claims totalling Rs 1,230 crore from it.

However, at that time, the company had said that it had not acknowledged any of these claims, as the matter was being investigated.

On June 9, the company had disclosed a total of about Rs 10,000 crore in legal and other claims. Besides Rs 1,230 crore sought by 37 ‘unacknowledged’ creditors, these included claims worth about Rs 400 crore related to four overseas acquisitions made under the leadership of its disgraced founder Raju, a

$1 billion long-running fraud litigation with British firm Upaid and the class action lawsuits filed by US shareholders over the multi-crore financial scam at the company, with an estimated demand of another $1 billion.

Except for Upaid case, all other claims surfaced after Raju’s disclosure.

The fraud is still being probed by various investigating and regulator agencies, including CBI, SFIO and Sebi.

Satyam shares today fell about 3 per cent in early morning trade to 5.23 dollars at the New York Stock Exchange. The shares had plunged to as low as 0.78 dollars on January 12, 2009 after Raju’s disclosure of the fraud.

Shares of the company, which are also listed in India, fell by over 2 per cent to close at Rs 104.85 at the Bombay Stock Exchange.