'Maytas diverted Rs 1,200 crore to Satyam'

The government-appointed board of Maytas Infra may be in for a surprise, with fresh gaps discovered in the company's accounts pointing to a scam of unforeseen magnitude. "There is a possibility of fund diversion to the tune of Rs 1,200 crore from the company to fraud-hit software exporter Satyam," said a banker familiar with the development. (Watch)

The erstwhile promoters of Maytas led by B Teja Raju, the eldest son of disgraced promoter of Satyam, B Ramalinga Raju, had assured banks that they would recover the money from Satyam, he said, requesting anonymity.

The board, which is expected to meet next on August 7, is still figuring out how to recover the amount. However, the quantum of funds diversion could not be independently verified.

"We have found that nearly Rs 380 crore from Maytas Infra and Rs 220 crore from Maytas Properties have been diverted into Satyam by way of inter corporate deposits (ICDs). We are not aware if a total of Rs 1,200 crore have been diverted," said Ved Jain, former president of accounting watchdog ICAI who is a government-appointed director of Maytas Infra.



Bharat Doshi, the chief financial offer of Mahindra and Mahindra, the current owner of Satyam, said the company will not comment until the accounts of Satyam are restated. Satyam���s accounts are expected to be restated by the end of this calendar year. A Maytas Infra spokesperson refused to comment on the issue.

OP Vaish, another government-appointed board member of Maytas, said the board is monitoring the situation. "This is not a static situation, and everyday something is happening. We have been monitoring the company for the past three months now, but we will take time to straighten out all the issues," he said.

The board approved a corporate debt restructuring (CDR) package last month, and appointed SBI Capital as the company's financial advisor for restructuring its corporate debt involving 18 lenders including ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and IDBI.

CDR package is the first big step towards restoring stability at Maytas, as it will ease the liquidity crunch and enable faster execution of ongoing projects, allowing Maytas to bid for new projects.

Maytas had an outstanding debt of nearly Rs 1,700 crore. Currently, Maytas Infra has an order book of Rs 7,525 crore. It is currently executing Gulbarga & Shimoga Airport projects in Karnataka and Power Grid Corp projects, which have been put on fast track.

The government-appointed board has met eight times in the past three months to take stock of the situation.