The government has asked the Registrar of Companies (RoC) to look into the Satyam-Maytas deal and submit the report within three weeks.
“We have asked the RoC to look into the matter, get the information from the company and inform us within three weeks as to what is the factual story. Only when we have the information, can the government do anything,” Union Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta said here on the sidelines of ICSI corporate governance award function.
When asked if there is a prima facie case for probe, he said, “Let us not try to influence the whole process. Let us wait for few days and get the information...We can’t say anything unless we get the report.”
The incident, he said, has brought bad name to the corporate sector, not only in India but throughout the world.
“I won’t say whether there was any irregularity or not unless we get the report, but unfortunately this has brought a bad name to the corporate sector not only in India but world over...Very unfortunate,” Gupta said.
He said though the government has always been of the opinion that corporates should be given a free hand in dealing with their daily affairs but “certainly we want that they should govern themselves with accountability and that they should keep in mind the larger interest of society and stakeholders”.
Satyam Computer services, India’s fourth largest software company, had decided to buy two firms promoted by Satyam Chief R Raju’s two sons — Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra — for $1.6 billion (about Rs 8,000 crore), but called off the deal within a few hours following the investors’ wrath.
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Satyam shares had taken a beating by over 55 per cent on US bourses on the day of announcement, while the scrip had lost 30 per cent on the BSE the following day.
Even as the deal was called off, it has raised issues concerning corporate governance by the company. Market regulator SEBI is also looking into the corporate governance issues of the three companies.