Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Sunday said that there was no obstacle in any law enforcing agencies, including CBI, inquiring into the Satyam fraud despite CB-CID registering a case.
In the wake of the fraud coming to the light, the government has asked the Chief Secretary to go into all the projects in which Maytas was involved either individually or as a consortium and give a report after which a decision would be taken appropriately.
The projects in which they are involved in are Hyderabad Metro, Machilipatnam port and some irrigation projects.
Addressing a press conference, the chief minister said the utmost priority of the government was to protect the interest of 53,000 IT professionals - 50 per cent of which are Telugus and interests of shareholders and investors.
"Nothing prevents CBI from inquiring into this. . . nothing on earth prevents any other law enforcement agency from inquiring into them," Reddy said.
He said the CB-CID has already booked a case of fraud but the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and market regulator Sebi were looking into all other aspects of commissions and omissions that fall under their purview.
"We are trying to take all steps in coordination so that the interest of the 53,000 employees, shareholders and investors are safeguarded," the chief minister said.
Rebutting allegations of delay in taking action in the case, he said the day the scam broke, he was in Delhi and immediately asked the chief secretary and the CB-CID to look into the issue.
On Jan 8 evening in Chennai, Reddy said he had heard the Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta announcing that Satyam Board had been disbanded. "Then I asked our people to look into booking a case of fraud."
"Nothing prevents any investigating agency or any law enforcement agency from acting without any inhibition or problems," Reddy said.
The Andhra Pradesh police had on Saturday asked teams of SEBI and Serious Fraud Investigation Office of Corporate Affairs Ministry to get the magistrate's permission for questioning Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju and his brother Rama Raju who were arrested on January 9.
Reddy said he had asked the chief secretary to look into the probability of all aspects of Maytas firms, where they are jointly or severally responsible and involved in projects with the state government and ensure whether it was in the interest of the state to go ahead.
"Ultimately, the interest of the government and work will have to be carried out in a transparent manner and how to implement it. The chief secretary has been asked to look into it," the chief minister said.
Reddy said any decision would be taken only after the chief secretary gave the report.
Andhra CID conducts raids on Satyam premises
The Andhra Pradesh CID on Sunday conducted raids on offices of Satyam Computer Services and residences of directors of the company's disbanded board in Hyderabad.
"As part of investigations, the raid have started today morning (Sunday) and are continuing," a CB-CID official said.
Replying to a query, officials said the raids would be carried out at Satyam offices in other parts of the country too.
There are well-laid-out procedures and the raids are being conducted accordingly, they added.