Government News on Ulitzer

The second set of charges filed last week against Indian outsourcer Satyam Computer Services founder Ramaslinga Raju and his cronies doubles the size of the already massive $1.5 billion fraud Raju confessed to in a letter back in January when he found he could no longer maintain the fiction.

The number could climb higher than the current $3 billion estimate when still a third charge sheet is filed possibly this week and the true extent of the caper may not be known until the company's accounts are restated sometime next year.

The money and the assets are still being run to ground.

Raju and the nine other former Satyam and PricewaterhouseCoopers executives who are currently cooling their heels in an Indian jail are expected to go on trial in a specially convened court next month.

The new charges calculate that Satyam 10 inflated the company's revenues by $93 million rupees by creating bogus customers and invoices and used forged board resolutions to borrow another $263 million used to fund a $75 million real estate-buying spree.

Tech Mahindra bought 47.2% of Satyam at auction in April for $600 million and subsequently changed its name to Mahindra Satyam. It also has to defend itself against class action suits in New York.

Before the scandal hit Satyam was India's fourth-largest IT services firm by revenue with a customer list that included GM, GE, Qantas and Nestle.

The head of the investigation into Satyam's books R Vasudevan was arrested last week for taking a $15,000 bribe to look the other way. The Wall Street Journal reports that the authorities do not believe the probe was damaged and will not redo any parts of its.