Hyderabad, January 22: Expressing its doubts about the integrity of G Jayaraman, the company secretary of Satyam Computers, the Union corporate affairs ministry has filed a petition in the AP High Court seeking a stay on the order of the Company Law Board (CLB) that allowed him to sell his assets. The ministry filed this plea through its registrar of companies (RoC) of Andhra Pradesh rather belatedly and hence urged the court to condone the delay and restore the assets sold away by the company secretary. It has also sought a direction to Mahendra Satyam, the current owner of the firm, not to effect the transfer of the securities held by Jayaraman till the final disposal of the cases filed by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), CBI, Sebi and other investigating agencies.
Jayaraman was Satyam’s company secretary under its earlier management led by B Ramalinga Raju and continues to hold that position under the current management led by the Mahindras. He was associated with Raju almost since the inception of Satyam. The CLB in its September 2009 order restrained Satyam from selling away the assets held by the top management of the Ramalinga Raju era including Jayaraman. In October 2011, the Company Law Board’s principal bench in Delhi vacated the restraint order in respect of Jayaraman. Following this, Jayaraman sold away his assets. Now, the central government is feeling aggrieved over the same.
In the petition filed before the HC on Friday, M V Chakranarayan, the registrar of companies, Andhra Pradesh, told the court that Jayaraman had obtained the order from the CLB through misrepresentation of facts. His role in the Satyam scam was clearly established by Sebi in its order delivered on November 29, 2011. The market regulator had described him as a conduit to the fraud perpetrated by the previous management of the company and also slapped a fine of Rs 5 lakh on him, the ROC said.
Though the SFIO has not given a clean chit to Jayaraman so far, the CLB relied on a statement stated to have been made by an officer of the SFIO and wrongly construed that Jayaraman was not involved in the scam, the RoC said in the petition. Significantly, the Centre’s petition revealed that Jayaraman’s role in the diversion and siphoning off funds in the Satyam scam was also under investigation.
The registrar of companies, Andhra Pradesh, told the court that Jayaraman had obtained the order from the CLB through misrepresentation of facts. His role in the Satyam scam was clearly established by Sebi.
Different agencies are probing this matter now and the CBI’s preliminary findings have got nothing to do with it, the RoC said in his petition. The CLB’s order, which gave a relief to Jayaraman by allowing him to dispose of his assets, may deal a severe blow to the existing cases filed by SFIO, CBI and other agencies. Taking advantage of the order of the CLB, Jayaraman has already sold away the assets mentioned by him in an affidavit before the CLB earlier, the petitioner said. The role of a company secretary in a company is very important both with respect to organizing board meetings, AGMs, shareholders, depositors meetings etc, the petition says. Jayaraman signed several annual reports earlier, and if he pleads innocence now, it should not be trusted, the petitioner added.
——Agencies