The 52-year old Byrraju Ramalinga Raju was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 for his entrepreneurial activities to bring his baby Satyam Computer Services on the global IT map. Fast forward. His confession letter says it all about the fate of entrepreneur, concluding with the statement ??riding a tiger not knowing how to get off without being eaten?. Raju?s confession, fictitious assets and non-existent cash will be in the history of business books. After a big drama, Raju, along with his brother Rama Raju, former CFO Vadlamani Srinivas along with few more are now cooling their heels in the Chanchalguda jail in Hyderabad.
A little more deeper insight into the whole scandal shows Raju?s love for his son, Teja Raju (which is obvious), who was running the show for the infrastructure business arm, Maytas. It is learnt from the investigating agencies that Raju has a land bank of 9,000 acres under benami accounts, spread across six villages. These lands were procured at a cost of Rs 2.5 lakh per acre which actually costs Rs 25,000!! The total cost of the entire dealing is estimated to be about Rs 700 crore, spent in cash. This happened during the realty boom so much so when the Tatas were looking out for space for an SEZ for their helicopter business. But things changed and the markets crashed, which eventually led to the fall of business of Maytas as well.
Investigating agencies say that there are missing links in books, investigations, registers and even during confessions apart from human errors. The magnitude is understood to be bigger than the investment made by any Indian company. However, sources in the know say that Raju?s confession is more an accepted reality. Politicians, who have made disclosures about their wealth for contesting in the polls, are nearly true. The tale which is being weaved is that Raju was holier than others in confessing about fudging of accounts to about $1 billion.
Raju is believed to have expressed his happiness over the ?safe-selling? of his baby, Satyam Computers to Tech Mahindra. In fact, he is learnt to be happier for the retention of the name Satyam in the new brand, Mahindra Satyam. Yet, he is taking it easy without applying for a bail.
The plan is clearer now. With the markets slowly recouping, the family plans to sell off few acres to meet the immediate requirements. Since he owed huge amount of money to a variety of lenders, he would rather remain in jail as it is much safer than bail.
Once money starts flowing in, things would change and there would be action among the battery of lawyers perhaps.