Raju siphoned off Rs 20 crore every month

New Delhi: B Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced founder of Satyam Computer Services Ltd, allegedly put over 10,000 fictitious employees on the company’s rolls to siphon off Rs 20 crore every month

The Criminal Investigation Department of Andhra Pradesh police alleged this while seeking Raju’s custody for two more days. The CID told a court in Hyderabad on Thursday there were 40,000 employees in the company during Raju’s tenure but he claimed 53,000 to siphoned off money every month under the pretext of paying salaries.

Manpower expenses constitute more than 60 percent of total costs at Satyam. The CID also alleged that Satyam’s top brass were involved in at least 400 benami transactions (money transfer through fictitious bank comments) and forged bank statements.

The CID, which is now tracing these transactions, suspects most of it the money was siphoned off to other companies or Raju's relatives.

One name that has emerged prominently in the benami transactions is that of one Akula Rajaiah, who allegedly received Rs 125 crores. Rajaiah is a politician turned land dealer, who already under suspicion of grabbing 3,500 acres of tribal land in Nalgonda.

The public prosecutors said Raju diverted around Rs 7,000 crore from the company for personal wealth, forged bank documents to show non-existent bank balance of Rs 3,300 crore and purchased thousands of acres of land under false names, public prosecutors told a court here Thursday.

The CID had sought extension of custody of Raju and former chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas, which ended Thursday, for two more days. But the court agreed to one-day extension, from 1600 hrs IST on Thursday to 1600 hrs IST on Friday, after hearing arguments of the public prosecutors and lawyers for Raju and Srinivas.

The bail plea of Raju, his brother B. Rama Raju and Srinivas, will be heard on Friday.

Satyam, India's No. 4 software services exporter, was plunged into crisis after founder Ramalinga Raju resigned as chairman in December, revealing profits had been falsified for years.