It’s been over two months since B Ramalinga Raju confessed to cooking Satyam’s books for seven long years – for 28 quarters he faced shareholders, research analysts and his employees with a straight face. That he is guilty of the monumental fraud, everybody is convinced. That he is all evil, not everybody buys that. 

People in Hyderabad still talk without reserve about the excellent work done by his charitable arm, EMRI, which runs an emergency ambulance service throughout the state. Help reaches any person in distress in less than half-an-hour. One-third of the calls are for deliveries. The drivers never accept a tip. In congested areas, paramedics reach the patient on two-wheelers. A man who gave almost ten per cent of his time to this kind of work, how could he defraud the company he had founded? Disbelief and shock linger on. 

There is another thought gaining ground. Ramalinga Raju inflated the accounts only for the good of Satyam, so that it could hold on the marquee clients. He did not take money for personal enrichment. In fact, he pledged his shares to fill the gap. And once the situation became unmanageable, he took the entire blame upon himself so that Satyam could survive. At least this is what his fiends would have us believe. 

All of this is yet to be heard in a court of law. So it is still early to jump to conclusions. But some things in this version do not add up. Ramalinga Raju said nobody else was aware of the falsification of bank deposits, except his brother, Rama Raju, Satyam CFO Vadlamani Srinivas and himself. What about the Satyam employees who handed over the certificates (which now clearly appear forged) to the auditors? What about the auditors themselves? For 28 quarters they failed to find anything amiss! 

The real profit margins that Ramalinga Raju talked about after removing the false accounts were ultra-thin. The industry average is far superior. If this average is used, Satyam’s actual bottomline would appear much better than what Ramalinga Raju claimed. What about the banks which must have got the Satyam annual reports which carried details of the deposits? Did they not bother to check the numbers? 

What about the family members? The shares in Satyam were held by their holding company called SRSR Holdings? Did they not enquire why the shares were pledged? To what use the money so raised was put? The investigating agencies have their hands full. The sale of Satyam will not be the end of the matter.