BUSINESS

Satyam case: Top priority for govt

Source:PTI
June 01, 2009 16:57 IST
Wanting to give a clear message to the corporate world that the government means serious business, Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed said that day-to-day trial in the multi-crore rupee Satyam scam would be the top-most priority, for which his ministry is also talking to Central Bureau of Investigation.

"We are flagging it as our 100-day priority...One area of our 100 days' priority is to see appropriate judicial order that would allow day-to-day trial," the new minister told PTI, when asked how soon the people responsible for the scam would be brought to justice.

The estimated Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) scam was probed among other agencies by SFIO, the investigative agency of the ministry, which has already submitted its report to the government.

On whether he would prefer a separate prosecution by SFIO or it would be jointly with CBI, Khursheed said, "We are assessing everything …We are in touch with CBI." He added that the government would want to expedite the process.

Besides CBI, the Corporate Affairs Ministry is also consulting the Law Ministry for the prosecution, he said.

When asked if the Satyam case was the tip of the iceberg and there could be more corporate frauds, Khursheed said, "I would call it a symptom of something wrong in the system. You need to treat the system, the root ... otherwise the symptom may reappear. If I call it a tip, it means I am saying there is an iceberg."

"Broadly there are three (major) areas -- one is Satyam, Companies Bill and area of outreach of corporate governance issue -- where we must get into dialogue with the concerned stakeholders."

"Finally, I don't want this ministry to have an elitist, aloof and ivory-tower existence," Khursheed said.

Source: PTI
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