Satyam scam hits Raju-promoted social outfit; 350 quit

Around 350 employees of Byrraju Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded by the family of ex-promoter of Satyam Computer Services Ramalinga Raju, currently in jail pending completion of fraud investigations, have quit since the Rs7,000 crore rupee scam surfaced in January.

The Foundation now has 850 people on its payroll, down from 1,200 immediately before the scam came to light, Byrraju Foundation chief executive officer Jacob Verghese told a news agency on Wednesday.

The employees left as they were told that only a part of their remuneration would be guaranteed, as the Raju family would not be able to support the foundation because of the legal trouble that they are in, he added.

"The Raju family used to provide Rs10-Rs20 crore out of the annual budget of Rs30 crore of the Foundation. After the family got into legal trouble, we told the employees that only 40-50 per cent of their salaries would be guaranteed. Many of them chose to quit,'' Verghese said.

He, however, claimed many of those who left still work as volunteers on weekends for the initiatives of the Foundation.

On the funding of the foundation, Verghese said the Raju family provided money out of its own pocket and "not a single penny was taken from Satyam''. The same is true for the Rs30-Rs40 crore per annum funding of EMRI, another non-profit body set up by the Rajus, populalry known as the Dial 108 service, that responds to  highway emergencies.