Satyam barred from World Bank work for 8 years

The World Bank has barred software vendor Satyam Computer from doing any business with it for eight years for alleged data theft, according to US broadcaster Frox News.

The report comes as another blow to the harried Satyam promoter B Ramalinga Raju, who is under fire over the property firm fiasco. (See: Satyam demands apology from World Bank )

The report said the World Bank ban came in September after the bank investigators discovered that spy software was covertly installed on workstations inside the bank's Washington headquarters - allegedly by one or more contractors from Satyam Computers.

This is the harshest sanction imposed by World Bank on any company since 2004, Fox News said quoting Robert Van Pulley, the World Bank's top information security official.

The report said "improper benefits to bank staff" and "lack of documentation on invoices" were the reasons behind the ban applicable till 2016.

In 2005, the bank's chief information officer, Mohamed Muhsin, was ousted after being accused of improperly buying preferential stock options from Satyam, it said.
 
The alleged malpractices were revealed by World Bank information security chief Robert Van Pulley at a recent meeting with the officials of Government Accountability Project (GAP) in the US.

The bank has handed over the case to the US Justice Department and the Treasury Department, the report said.

Satyam which started providing IT services to the World Bank in 2003, .will, however, work for the bank till 2008.