New Delhi - The Indian government Tuesday ordered an investigation into the Satyam accounting fraud by the country's Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), officials said. "The SFIO will submit its report in three months," Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta told reporters in New Delhi.
"The SFIO will be looking into the entire gamut of irregularities and other related anomalies, the (irregularities) in accounts and other acts of commission and omission," Gupta said.
The government ordered the probe after receiving a report from the Registrar of Companies, which conducted a preliminary inquiry into the firm's accounting.
The government dismissed Satyam's 10-member board last week for "failing to do its duty" after the company's chairman and founder B Ramalinga Raju revealed an accounting fraud of 1.43 billion dollars.
Satyam is India's fourth-largest software exporter and operates in 66 countries. It has 53,000 employees and counts 185 Fortune 500 companies as its customers.
The SFIO was established after a stock market scam in the 1990s. Formed under the ministry of corporate affairs, it has experts in capital markets, accounting, forensic auditing, taxation, company law and customs.
A high-level meeting including Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister Palniappan Chidambaram was to be held later Tuesday to review the Satyam case.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said Monday the government would consider "all aspects" of the fraud-hit firm because it was a question of saving jobs and an international Indian brand.
The NDTV network reported that the government was considering a bailout package and other options to raise funds for the company.
Seeking to allay fears among foreign investors, Mukherjee said appropriate steps were being taken to address the issue and there was "no need to press the panic button."
Visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also said that the Indian economy was strong and "one bad apple" did not mean that the "whole barrel is bad."
Mukherjee added that the Indian economy's basic fundamentals were strong because growth was projected between 7 to 7.5 per cent this year, despite the global economic meltdown.
