Satyam Computers Chairman Ramalinga Raju may be facing a crisis in his workplace but Jacob Verghese, the man heading the 1,200- strong Byrraju Foundation, one of the four philanthropic foundations run by the Raju family, has come out strongly in support of Raju, calling him “a visionary social entrepreneur beyond compare”, a man who, according to him, was so particular about corporate ethics that he never let a penny from Satyam flow into the family foundations.
The over 600-word letter by Byrraju CEO Jacob Verghese was sent to the workers of the foundation on December 24, around the same time a website in support of Raju was set up.
Asked why he felt compelled to write such a letter, Verghese said that over the last weeks, too many malicious things were being said in the media and he wanted to tell the real side of the story. “I don’t know him as a businessman but I know him as a social entrepreneur. I know what he was doing and so I felt compelled to say it,” Verghese said.
The Byrraju Foundation, according to Verghese, gets half its annual funds, worth Rs 30 crore, from the Raju family. The rest comes from partnerships with other agencies including companies. The foundation has received Rs 300 crore till now from the Raju family, Verghese says.
Byrraju Foundation and EMRI, another of Raju’s non-profit foundations, also figure among community projects on the website of Maytas Infra Pvt Ltd, whose CEO, P K Madhav, was Verghese’s predecessor. One of the employees of the foundation said: “As far as we are concerned, there is no change. We have even started a new programme as scheduled,” said a district coordinator of the Foundation, requesting anonymity.
On the Satyam Computers’ proposals to buy stakes in two promoter-owned companies, Verghese says, Raju had “bought lots of land worth crores with his own wealth and if he were to sell it he could make more wealth than what the Satyam deal would have given him”.
He says that the foundations, being funded purely by the personal wealth of the Raju family, run no risk. Raju’s contribution comes regularly, once a year. “So far, he has spent Rs 300 crore on the foundations while has been drawing a modest salary of Rs 40 lakh for a company with Rs 1,300 crore profit,” Jacob said.
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Read the entire letter below
Dear Byrraju associates,
Like all of you, I am deeply pained by the recent developments and I feel compelled to pen these words.
All of us have been bestowed the great privilege of working for Byrraju Foundation, Raju's family foundation and as a Satyam outsider, let me share my candid and objective views.
Many of us in the senior leadership of Byrraju Foundation have worked with Mr Ramalinga Raju very closely for the last many years for growing Byrraju Foundation as one of the foremost rural transformation civil society organisations in the world. I am yet to see a global business leader with more passion for social causes , contributing substantial portion of his personal wealth , visionary zeal and management expertise for not only our cause but also many other foundations he has founded like EMRI, HMRI, Naandi etc. In our case , he has insisted right from the beginning that we follow the highest ideals of corporate governance and we have always maintained an arms length relationship with Satyam , our alliance partner . Thanks to these strict guidelines given by Raju we have never received a rupee of funding from Satyam or any other unpaid resources.
With his unlimited generosity, wisdom and passion for the cause of rural transformation and his undying belief that state of the art services can be offered at affordable costs to the poorest of the rural poor , Mr Raju has been our greatest inspiration not only to 1500 employees of our foundation, but to the 1 million people we impact in our 200 adopted villages in AP. What he has provided to all of us is the greatest opportunity to serve the poor in the society , while practicing the latest management and technology know how.
I feel it is certainly not fair on the part of the sensationalist modern media to judge a person of this calibre on his motives or his standards of governance. Many of them do not have the stature even to hold a candle to him.
Permit me to ask these detractors a few questions.
Which other business, political , social or media leader has donated over rupess 300 crores of his personal wealth for social causes over a span of 6 years?
Show me another visionary who in such a brief span has spawned so many path breaking social initiatives in diverse areas such as rural transformation, urban development, emergency care, health management etc.
Show me another leader, who dared to visualize and persevere to create such diverse PPP models , when all our political leaders and bureaucrats have thrown up their hands in helplessness and the worst forms of corruption, apathy and lack of accountability have permeated our civil society.
Which other leader can be such an epitome of humility in spite of the meteoric heights of achievement from humble beginnings?
I am certain that my questions will never be answered . I am pained to see that the multitudes who have sat on judgment in the last few days are people who have never known Raju, his abilities , his lofty standards of integrity and excellence and his high commitment to all his AICS stakeholders.
Let history not judge this situation unfairly and tarnish rightfully earned reputations .All of us have a great responsibility to stand together and mitigate the unfair trial by media and uniformed public. This is the time to rededicate ourselves to our cause of rural transformation, which is larger and nobler than all of us individually . More importantly , this is the time to stand stead fastedly by Mr Raju for fulfilling his future vision.
I am sure this storm will blow over. I trust the future and I have great belief that goodness of heart will eventually prevail.
Best Regards
Verghese Jacob