01-14-2009, 02:22 AM
<b>Satyam Executives Sold $1.8 Million of Stock Before Record Fall </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Satyam Computer Services Ltd. executives reaped $1.8 million from share sales in the six months before a botched takeover and fraud inquiry at Indiaâs fourth- largest software exporter triggered a record fall in its stock.
<b>Nine officials led by Chief Financial Officer V. Srinivas sold a combined 267,358 shares since July 14, according to filings by the company to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Thatâs more stock than the combined insider sales at 30 companies on Indiaâs benchmark index</b>, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Chairman Ramalinga Raju said on Jan. 7 that heâd fabricated $1 billion of cash and assets, sparking an 83 percent plunge in Satyamâs stock that wiped out $2.2 billion of investor wealth. The insider sales coincided with a record fall in Indian equities as the <b>global credit crunch forced Satyamâs clients including Citigroup Inc. to cut spending on computer services</b>.
<b>âThe impunity with which promoters sold shares is really shocking,â </b>said R.K. Gupta, who manages the equivalent of about $100 million of stocks at Taurus Mutual Fund in New Delhi. <b>âIt also raises questions about how effective our regulatory system is that it could not detect the wrongdoing from the share sales.â </b>Taurus Starshare fund held 56,223 shares of Satyam at the end of December, according to Bloomberg data.
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The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India yesterday set up a six-member panel to examine Satyam and its auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPâs local unit. PricewaterhouseCoopers has said it complied with Indiaâs accounting rules.
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<b>âThere are people who have lost an equally significant amount of moneyâ because they didnât sell their entire stake,</b> T. Hari, head of communications at Satyam, said in a telephone interview yesterday.<b> âItâs possible that not everyone exercised all those vested stocks</b>.â<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
lot of small investors will lose lot.
<b>Nine officials led by Chief Financial Officer V. Srinivas sold a combined 267,358 shares since July 14, according to filings by the company to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Thatâs more stock than the combined insider sales at 30 companies on Indiaâs benchmark index</b>, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Chairman Ramalinga Raju said on Jan. 7 that heâd fabricated $1 billion of cash and assets, sparking an 83 percent plunge in Satyamâs stock that wiped out $2.2 billion of investor wealth. The insider sales coincided with a record fall in Indian equities as the <b>global credit crunch forced Satyamâs clients including Citigroup Inc. to cut spending on computer services</b>.
<b>âThe impunity with which promoters sold shares is really shocking,â </b>said R.K. Gupta, who manages the equivalent of about $100 million of stocks at Taurus Mutual Fund in New Delhi. <b>âIt also raises questions about how effective our regulatory system is that it could not detect the wrongdoing from the share sales.â </b>Taurus Starshare fund held 56,223 shares of Satyam at the end of December, according to Bloomberg data.
.................
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India yesterday set up a six-member panel to examine Satyam and its auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPâs local unit. PricewaterhouseCoopers has said it complied with Indiaâs accounting rules.
.........
<b>âThere are people who have lost an equally significant amount of moneyâ because they didnât sell their entire stake,</b> T. Hari, head of communications at Satyam, said in a telephone interview yesterday.<b> âItâs possible that not everyone exercised all those vested stocks</b>.â<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
lot of small investors will lose lot.