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Probe Satyam-Maytas nexus: Karat

Gargi Parsai

“Some of the land dealings were obviously irregular and violative of law”

NEW DELHI: Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to extend the scope of the Satyam probe for a possible nexus between the computer services company and the Maytas group owned by the family members of the IT major’s former Chairman B. Ramalinga Raju.

In his letter, written on Saturday, Mr. Karat said that since the fraudulent dealings of the promoter of Satyam Computer Services became public, there was growing evidence that funds were siphoned off from Satyam to the Maytas group.

Mr. Karat said the Maytas group had accumulated huge tracts of land all over Andhra Pradesh and in some other States. In the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project, it had been given prime land. “Some of the land dealings were obviously irregular and violative of law. One such instance is the allotment of 50 acres of government land in Visakhapatnam district to Satyam Computers.”

In December 2008, he said, the former Union Secretary, E.A.S. Sharma, had written to the State authorities regarding violation of the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority’s Master Plan and the Coastal Regulation Zone norms in handing over this land. The land was sold at a far lower price than the market value. “There are other such land deals and projects involving the Satyam-Maytas group of companies.”

“The government has ordered a probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office into the Satyam Computer Services Limited. This alone will not be sufficient. In the light of the nexus between the Satyam-Maytas group of companies, the probe should be extended to all the Maytas concerns,” Mr. Karat said.

“An investigation to uncover all the illegal dealings of these companies is essential to restore public confidence,” he added.

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