SC admits bail pleas of four Satyam scam accused
16 Sep 2011
The Supreme Court today admitted the bail petitions of four of the chief accused in the scam at the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services, which is considered India's biggest corporate fraud.
The bail pleas of former Satyam executives G Ramakrishna, D Venkatpathi Raju, Ch Srisailam, and former internal chief auditor V S Prabhakar Gupta were rejected by the Andhra Pradesh High Court on 30 August. The quartet then approached the Supreme Court.
A bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A K Patnaik directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to file a reply on the pleas within two weeks.
The prime movers of the fraud, said to be worth somewhere between Rs7,000 crore and Rs14,000 crore - Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju and his brother and former managing director B Rama Raju – as well as other accused were not part of the bail plea.
All the accused, including Satyam's former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas and former Price Waterhouse Coopers (India) auditor Subramani Gopalakrishnan, are in Hyderabad's Chanchalguda Central Prison under judicial custody.
The four accused have sought bail on the grounds that the trial in the Satyam case was not completed by the Supreme Court-stipulated deadline of 31 July; and moreover all the prosecution witnesses have been examined so there is no further reason for their being held in jail.
