High Courts clears decks for PwC to sue Ramalainga Raju

As a result of the Telangana High Court's order, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has been able to sue B Ramalinga Raju, the disgraced founder of Satyam Computers (now merged into Tech Mahindra), for Rs 100 crore for the loss of reputation and business that occurred.

The statutory auditor of Satyam Computers between 2000 and 2009, PwC, sued Raju and associates for the damages it suffered ever since his confession to India’s largest accounting fraud in January 2009. The audit firm claimed that owing to the fraud perpetrated by Raju and associates and their deceitful conduct, it had suffered a huge loss of clients and profits, and irreparable commercial damages.

Justices P Naveen Rao and Nagesh Bhimapaka dismissed a civil revision petition filed by Ramalinga Raju on Tuesday. The trial court in 2012 had rejected the plea of Raju against the claims of PwC.

The decision of the HC to dismiss the civil revision petition by Ramalinga Raju will now enable the civil court to resume hearing the suit filed by PwC for Rs 100 crore against Raju and associates.

In parallel, Tech Mahindra, which acquired Satyam Computers in 2009, has been cleared to proceed with seeking Rs 223 crore of damages from Raju and associates for the damages suffered by it. K Vivek Reddy, counsel for Tech Mahindra said Tech Mahindra filed a petition seeking to consolidate with the suit of PwC since they arise out of the same issue. The High Court has allowed the petition, he said.