•Coomi Kapoor: How do you think the Satyam scam will play out in view of the upcoming general elections and assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh?

Satyam is the biggest fraud in the corporate sector. The world used to see us as intelligent, hardworking people, but now they are seeing us with suspicion. Still, everyone is forecasting that in another 10-15 years, India will be amongst the top four nations of the world. 

I have come to New Delhi with a mission. This book that we have printed is a case study of a politician. The present Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and his family members have declared an income of Rs 41 lakh in 2003-04. After he became chief minister, he completed the Sandur power project and boosted the valuation. He made a Rs 10 share worth Rs 71. He offloaded nearly 17 per cent of the shares to a Mauritian company, 2i, a shell company, which means, money was illegally routed through this company to India. He now has Rs 600 crore-Rs 700 crore in this company. He floated 17 subsidiaries and diverted the money into these companies and they in turn made investments in real estate, media and the cement business.

Here’s one example: Jagati Publications (owned by the chief minister’s son). The principal company is Caramel Asia Holding Limited and the subsidiary is Sakshi, the newspaper company. He has valuated the newspaper at

Rs 350 crore. He offloaded 10 per cent of shares at the rate of Rs 350. He got Rs 350 crore. And then, he kept 73 per cent of the shares with himself. As for Jagati, the investment into the firm has come from shell companies located in Kolkata which do money laundering. He has identified 14 companies whose share value is Rs 1.50 and are loss-making. He routed about Rs 43 crore through these companies.

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