Disgraced former chairman of beleaguered Satyam Computer B Ramalinga Raju will appear before the officials of the Securities and Exchange Board of India before 4 pm on Saturday in response to the summon issued by the authorities.
The Sebi team, which was in Hyderabad to look into the alleged fraud in Satyam Computers had summoned Ramalinga Raju to appear before them by 4 pm on Friday.
Ramalinga Raju's lawyer S Bharat Kumar told the media after his meeting with the Sebi officials that he had sought three day's time for Raju's appearance but they granted time only till tomorrow. "He could not appear today because of health reasons", Kumar said.
He said that Sebi officials wanted important documents relating to Satyam Computer from Raju. He will meet Sebi officials in Satyam headquarters at Jubilee Hills.
Kumar also confirmed that Raju was very much present in the city. "The reports that he has gone out of the country are all wrong."
Meanwhile Raju's wife Nandini has also denied reports in a section of the media that he had flown out of the country. "These are all incorrect reports. He is very much in Hyderabad", said Nandini, who was not staying at her home in Jubilee Hills area.
There was confusion about his whereabouts with reports suggesting that Raju could be at his farm house at Kompally near Hyderabad or some other place. Ramalinga Raju has not appeared since he announced his resignation on Wednesday admitting massive financial fraud in the company and cooking of account books.
While there were 'rumours' that Satyam will sack close to 15,000 employees in February, and its staff will not get paid for the next two months, about 14,000 workers posted their CVs on different sites in search of new jobs.
The fate of the 50,000 odd employees became all the more uncertain after interim CEO Mynampati Ram told a media conference on Thursday that the company's liquidity position was not very encouraging and while it had paid the salary for the month of December, he was not sure how the salaries for the current month would be paid.
Satyam's wage bill is estimated to be at Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion).
The trainee employees are most vulnerable as they had deposited Rs 200,000 each as security while joining the company. Sources say Satyam had collected a whopping Rs 140 crore (Rs 1.4 billion) from such trainees during the past two years. With the company facing financial crunch, the employees are not sure if they will be get back their deposits.
Meanwhile the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said that the Crime Branch and Criminal Investigation Department was conducting its own independent investigations into the alleged financial irregularities in Satyam computers. He said that the state government has asked the CID to undertake the probe and take action if necessary.
On the government contracts given to Maytas, the associate companies of Satyam owned by Ramalinga Raju's sons, the chief minister said that the government will review all such contracts and see whether the companies were meeting their contractual agreements or not.
The chief minister made the comments at a time when all the opposition parties are mounting pressure on his government to take action and arrest Ramalinga Raju.