Satyam doesn't need govt help to pay salaries

The government on Saturday said that Satyam does not need its support to pay salaries to the company's employees, whose number has become a matter of controversy after the CID claimed that the IT major has inflated its headcount.

"They don't need (the) government's help. They will manage the issue (of payment of salary)," Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta said while talking to reporters.

The Andhra Pradesh government's investigating agency CID, which is investigating the Satyam fraud case, said before a local court that the company had inflated the number of employees by at least 12,000. The company had claimed that it had over 52,000 employees.

Gupta had earlier said the company had receivables of about Rs 1,700 crore.

Satyam needs about Rs 500 crore per month to meet the cost of establishment, including salaries to employees.

Following the disclosures of the accounting fraud by the disgraced founder chairman of the IT company B Ramalinga Raju, the government superseded the Satyam Board and appointed its own nominees.

The newly-constituted board has appointed two global auditing firms, KPMG and Deloitte, to re-state the accounts of the company, even as Satyam's auditors Price Waterhouse told the new board not to rely on its audit reports.

Replying to questions on the appointment of a new CEO and CFO, Gupta said, "This (appointment of CEO and CFO) is being looked into by the board. They are studying the applications they have received. The new board will take a view soon."

According to Tarun Das, a member of the newly-appointed Satyam Board, the company has received 40 applications for top management positions in the company.