Fraud costs Satyam's Raju his World Economic Forum chair

28 January 2009

B Ramalinga Raju, founder-chairman of Satyam Computer Services, would have been sharing dais with top business leaders of the world had he not confessed the Rs7,800- crore fraud. Instead, the company's disgraced founder chairman is currently languishing in Chanchalguda jail in Hyderabad. 

Raju, once the head of India's fourth-largest information technology firm,  was scheduled to co-chair a meeting of the World Economic Forum, which is being attended by 1,400 global CEOs and about 40 heads of state.

Having founded Satyam Computer Services, Raju took the company to new heights, making it India's fourth largest IT firm, with several Fortune 500 companies as his client.

The forum is being attended among others by Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, UK prime minister Gorden Brown, Russian prime minister Vladimer Putin, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese premier Taro Aso, among others.

Besides, NGOs, trade unions, social entrepreneurs, young global leaders and experts from a wide range of fields will be attending the Davos meeting. The meeting will focus on managing the current global economic crisis and shaping the post-crisis agenda - from economic reform to climate change.

Meanwhile, the worsening economic turmoil dominated talks and thoughts as world leaders and hundreds of top financial and corporate chiefs gathered for the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.