The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) could not get access to the former bosses of Satyam Computer Services, B. Ramalinga Raju, his brother Rama Raju and Srinivas Vadlamani, by a court here on Friday on technical grounds.

The Sixth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate D. Ramakrishna rejected the SEBI’s application to record the Raju brothers’ statement and refused to admit a similar petition by SFIO unless it specified the correct legal provisions to examine them.

The market regulator had been waiting to meet the Rajus since their arrest on January 9, but defence counsel opposed its plea, claiming that the petition was not maintainable and the court had no jurisdiction in such matters.

The CID on Thursday night arrested D. Gopalakrishnam Raju, general manager of SRSR Advisory Services, a constituent of the promoter group of Satyam. He was alleged to have arranged land deals for the Rajus.

The prosecution argued in the court that the brothers held property all over the country and that Satyam’s annual statements falsely reflected fixed deposits in BNP Paribas since 2004. It submitted a letter issued by the bank denying holding FDs in the company’s name.

Mr. Ramalinga Raju and Mr. Srinivas were sent back to jail at the end of their five-day police custody which, according to A. Siva Narayana, Additional Director General of CID, gave the investigators several leads to help crack the Satyam fraud case. The judicial remand of the three was extended by the court up to February 7.

Board holds out hope

The Satyam Board said a new Chief Executive Officer and a Chief Financial Officer would be appointed next week. The Directors had narrowed the shortlist for these positions to the final three and the CEO finally chosen would be a leader of “global standing and recognition.”

The Board, which met under the chairmanship of Tarun Das, also made several positive announcements. It said funding arrangements to meet the operational needs, including staff salaries, would be announced on Wednesday. It would soon take a decision on the investment banker.

Interestingly, commenting on the doubts cast on the company’s head count, the Board said “prima facie, there appears no basis to doubt the same. The independent investigation process is expected to reaffirm this fact in the coming weeks”.

Source : ET

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