Hyderabad-base consulting and IT services provider, Mahindra Satyam, today said that it will be challenging the recent Enforcement Directorate (ED) order, attaching fixed deposits of Rs 822 crore of the company under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act
ED, on October 18 this year, had served a provisional attachment order on Mahindra Satyam, attaching the money on the grounds that it had been identified as ‘proceeds of crime’ committed by Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju.
“We know it is our money. We are going to challenge it because we never had access or were privy to that money (proceeds of crime). It had already been spent when we took over. In fact, the situation was so bad that the government-appointed directors had to borrow Rs 450 crore to meet the working capital requirements,“ Mahindra Satyam chairman Vineet Nayyar told mediapersons here on Tuesday.
On the merger process with Tech Mahindra, Nayyar said the company was ahead of the schedule that it had planned for itself. The company had earlier indicated December 2012-March 2013 as the time line for the merger.
“The Bombay High Court approvals are in place and we are now in the penultimate stage of getting the approval from the Andhra Pradesh High Court,” he said.
