Mahindra Satyam seeks unsealing of records by CBI

A city court in Hyderabad yesterday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation, one of the agencies probing the multi-crore accounting fraud in the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services, to file a memo before it by 16 April on whether it has locked the record rooms at Satyam Technology Centre (STC) and 'My Home Hub' premises in the city.

Referring to a petition of Mahindra Satyam, which took over the defunct company, seeking release of the records at both premises, which were sealed by the CBI during its investigations, the additional chief metropolitan magistrate and special judge trying the Satyam scam cases, B V L N Chakravarti, asked the investigating agency to file a memo so that it could pass orders on the application.

The counsel for Mahindra Satyam told the court that the CBI has locked both the premises ever since it took up the investigations in February last year.

"The petitioner company (Mahindra Satyam) has been directed by Company Law Board to restate / reinstate the accounts of Satyam Computer Services Ltd by 30 June 2010," the counsel said, adding that the documents seized have been kept in the financial records godown of SCSL at Satyam Technology Centre (STC) Bahadurpally and also 'My Home Hub' premises.

It is imperative for the petitioner company and its auditors to have access to these records for verifying and for defending proceedings and litigations and also for taking further steps to defend and proceed in various cases including class action suits pending in the US court and other courts abroad, the Mahindra Satyam counsel contended.