Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju gets 6-month sentence in SFIO case

HYDERABAD: A special court for economic offences in Hyderabad sentenced Satyam Computer founder Ramalinga Raju and his younger brother in India’s largest accounting fraud to six months of jail each in four cases and ordered a penalty of Rs 5 lakh each in two cases. This is one of the cases related to the Satyam Computer accounting fraud.

Announcing the judgement in cases filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), judge M Lakshman provided relief to the Raju brothers by directing that jail sentences in all cases will run concurrently.

The court also gave four weeks to the accused to appeal in the highest court against orders pertaining to alleged violation of company law provisions. The public prosecutor acting on behalf of SFIO, C Raghu, said a sixmonth sentence was the longest tenure under the Companies Act and Raju and his younger brother Rama Raju got the highest punishment among the other accused.

Trial in several cases filed by various regulatory bodies are going on in various courts, while the one by the CBI court completed its trial and reserved its orders for December 23. The special court has directed the former directors on the Satyam Computer board to cough up benefits running into crores of rupees they obtained during their tenure as directors.