India Software Chief Guilty Of Fraud

A court in India has found the former head of Satyam Computers and nine others guilty in one of the country’s biggest ever corporate scandals.

B Ramalinga Raju, who founded the software services giant, denied charges of conspiracy, cheating and forgery but admitted to accounting malpractices.

The special court in Hyderabad is expected to pass sentences on Friday.

The collapse of Satyam Computers in 2009 cost shareholders more than US$ 2 billion and rocked India’s IT industry.

The BBC’s Simon Atkinson in Mumbai says it is the biggest fraud at a listed company in India – its collapse was called India’s Enron.

Satyam was one of the biggest players in the booming Indian software market. The jobs of 50,000 Satyam workers were only saved after the government intervened.

Another Indian firm, Tech Mahindra, bought a controlling stake in the company in April 2009.

“All the accused have been convicted of almost all charges,” prosecutor K Surender told reporters outside court,

All 10 people accused in the case were convicted – they include two brothers of Raju and seven others. Raju could face life in prison, prosecutors say.

Source: BBC News