Satyam founder Ramalinga Raju gets 6-month sentence in SFIO

A local court on Monday convicted Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju, accused of one of the most sensational corporate frauds in the country, and other accused in connection with complaints filed by Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).

The court sentenced Raju and others to six months' jail term and imposed fines on all the accused. SFIO, the investigation arm of Union Corporate Affairs Ministry, had filed seven complaints against the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services Limited (SCSL) and its directors for violations of the Companies Act in the Special Court for Economic Offences here in December 2009.

Raju and some of the directors were sentenced to six months' imprisonment and each of them were fined an amount ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 10 lakh, while in other complaints only fines were imposed.

The court directed one of the former directors, Krishna G Palepu, to pay fine of a whopping Rs 2.66 crore in complaint number 394/2009 within two months.

"Out of the seven complaints, the accused including Raju and some others were convicted in six complaints with jail terms and fines while in one complaint where the offence is punishable with fine, they were granted acquittal.

The sentences will run concurrently," special prosecutor C Raghu said. Raju is currently out on bail. Monday's court order was suspended to enable the accused file appeals.