NDTV Report: Satyam BENAMI Bank Accounts

NDTV reported today (13^th Jan 2009) that B. Ramalinga Raju, had opened multiple “BENAMI” accounts through relatives and friends. Fixed deposits to the tune of Rs 29.5 crore were found in those accounts. The funds were frequently used for trading in Satyam shares, flouting the insider-trading norms. See the report titled: “Raju had opened multiple benami accounts: I-T probe” link in: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090079818>

This report strengthens my doubt that perhaps a substantial portion of the estimated 7800 Crore of Satyam investors stiffened money now sitting cool and safe in the bank accounts or converted into, cash currencies and valuable assets, properties of B. R. Raju, family members, close relatives, and the associates involved in this fraud!

However it would be highly unlikely that the Satyam fraud investigating agencies ever will be able to detect or find out those bank accounts and the valuable assets because most of those bank accounts , properties are cleverly hidden under bogus or fake ID documents in the BANAMI accounts of those culprits.

To prevent people from having the fake ID bank accounts and owning valuable assets properties under the Benami or the bogus name and to engage in all sorts of illicit money transaction or corruptions including this fraud; I urge the Government to “bring in Mandatory Biometric Identity MBID in all bank accounts, thereby making all money transaction above a given amount (specially when it comes to large sums of money and the things of social security matters) only through the bank to the bank account called Mandatory Electronic Money Transaction.

The Satyam fraud investigating agencies would have easily detected and immediately recovered all the money and the properties made by the Satyam fraud if the above mentioned MBID/MEMT bank account money transaction policy in place. Most probably such fraud would not have happened there in the first place! For more information on this matter please search: “IT to Root-Out Corruption”.

Valerian Texeira
St. Joseph Nagar Jeppu
Mangalore – 575002 INDIA

http://www.anticorruption-it.info