Ramalinga Raju, former chairman of Satyam Computers, who last year confessed to have inflated his companys assets by over $1 billion, has been declared a pauper by a US court. New York judge Barabara S Jones approved pauper status for Raju, his brother Rama Raju, Satyams former chief executive officer, and Srinivas Vadlamani, former CFO, in a litigation brought by investors, thus exempting them from paying court costs.

According to court documents, the accused stated they are unable to engage an attorney in the US to defend (themselves) in the class action litigation and to pay any court fees or to meet any financial obligations which might be imposed by this court.

The court finds that defendants have adequately demonstrated that they are unable to pay costs as described in the federal law, US District judge Jones said. He, however, denied the request for a pro bono counsel as the defendants are incarcerated in a foreign country and it would be unusually difficult for the appointed counsel to meet and otherwise competently represent defendants under the circumstances.