Ramalinga Raju's properties worth Rs. 822 crore seized

BANGALORE, INDIA: After spending nearly 32 months in jail, erstwhile Satyam Computers Services Ltd founder chairman B. Ramalinga Raju was released last November; however, looks like Raju is in trouble again.

A report on NDTV quoting ehe Press Trust of India says that, the Enforcement Directorate has seized assets worth Rs. 822 crore belonging to B. Ramalinga Raju, the founder of IT giant Satyam. Sources say this could be the single largest attachment under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The 57-year-old Ramalinga Raju shocked the corporate India in January 2009 by admitting to fraud in the IT major. While resigning as chairman of the firm, he confessed on January 7, 2009 that the company cooked its books resulting in an "inflated (non-existent) cash and bank balances" over several years.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had booked 10 people including Ramalinga Raju. Another of his brothers, B. Suryanarayana Raju, who is neither a director nor an employee of the IT firm, had secured anticipatory bail.

Tech Mahindra then acquired Satyam in April 2009, a few months after Satyam was rattled by India's biggest corporate fraud. Satyam was subsequently re-named Mahindra Satyam.

The company has already paid $10 million to settle the US Securities and Exchange Commission's suit over the fraud. It paid $125 million to settle class action suits and another $70 million to settle the case.