Mahindra Satyam sues former board, auditor PwC

Tuesday, 10 January 2012 00:33 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

REUTERS: Computer services firm Mahindra Satyam (SATY.NS) said it had filed a lawsuit against past directors, some ex-employees and former auditor Pricewaterhouse, seeking damages after the company was hit by a fraud in 2009 that became the country’s biggest corporate scandal.

Mahindra Satyam, previously known as Satyam Computer Services, said on Monday the suit filed in a court in Hyderabad sought damages for “inter-alia perpetrating fraud, breach of fiduciary responsibility, obligations and negligence in performance of duties”.

Ramalinga Raju, founder and former chairman of Satyam, shocked investors in January 2009 when he revealed that the company’s profits had been overstated for years and that assets allegedly worth more than $1.5 billion had been falsified. Indian IT firm Tech Mahindra, part of the Mahindra Group, bought control of Satyam in an auction in April 2010 and renamed it Mahindra Satyam. Raju was granted bail by the Supreme Court in November last year after the CBI failed to file charges against him on time.