The Enforcement Directorate (ED), probing the multi-crore Satyam scam, has completed 90 per cent of its investigation and will file a chargesheet soon, a senior official said on Friday in Hyderabad.
"We have completed 90 per cent of the probe into money laundering charges and will file a separate chargesheet soon in a local court," a senior ED official, who wished to be unidentified, told PTI here. The charges will be bsed on the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,he added.
The ED is part of the multi-disciplinary investigation team probing the nearly Rs 10,000-crore Satyam accounting scam involving its founder B Ramalinga Raju and other senior management of the IT company.
The ED had last year interrogated the prime accused Ramalinga Raju, his brother and former MD Rama Raju, ex-CFO Vadlamani Srinivas, former PriceWaterhouse auditors--S Gopalakrishnan and T Srinivas under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED had last month also recorded statements of four other Satyam employees who are also accused in the case.
Recently it sought details of bank accounts of erstwhile Satyam Computers, through letters rogatory or LRs which are requests for legal assistance, were sent to 34 countries.
The ED case pertains to the USD 152-million Satyam ADRs in 2001. Total proceeds had to be repatriated in six months to one year period, the official said, adding, "we are probing whether this amount was brought back or not. We have to now check the Satyam accounts and verify whether the amount is still parked outside."
Invoking the provisions of the PMLA and Foreign Exchange Management Act, ED had filed these LRs seeking statements and documents connected to these accounts through a local court.
The countries to which the LRs have been sent include the US, South Africa, Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Belgium, France, Ireland, Denmark, Canada, Switzerland,Japan, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, UAE etc.
The official said the Directorate is likely to get a reply in the next three months on its queries from these countries.
The ED has so far attached 340 properties that include vast farm lands and flats owned by Raju and 131 others, including his family members, allegedly acquired through the proceeds from the country's largest corporate fraud. The probe is still on and some more properties would be attached over the next few months, the official said.
The CBI, which is also investigating the fraud, has so far filed three charges-sheets. PTI
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