Gupta managing director at Taurus Asset Management in NewDelhi

The New York Stock Exchange halted trading in Satyam'sshares indefinitely, saying it wanted to review the news. He added that no other board member was aware of thefinancial irregularities at the Satyam, which in Sanskrit means"truth." "If a company's chairman himself says they built fictitiousassets, who do you believe here This has put a question markon the entire corporate governance system in India," said R.K.Gupta, managing director at Taurus Asset Management in NewDelhi. The startling admission comes as investors across the globepay more attention to oversight following last month's arrestof Bernard Madoff over charges he swindled clients out ofbillions of dollars. "In a bull market, people forgot about it (corporategovernance)," said Singapore-based Ashish Goyal, chiefinvestment officer at Prudential Asset Management. "In a bearmarket chickens are coming home to roost, so it getshighlighted at a time like this." "RIDING A TIGER" Satyam's auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers declined comment,saying it was investigating the matter U.S. Securities andExchange Commission spokesman John Nester had no comment on thematter.

"It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get offwithout being eaten," Raju, a management graduate from OhioUniversity, said in his letter, adding he was prepared to faceup to the legal consequences. ID:nBOM368072 Satyam said its managing director and co-founder B RamaRaju, Raju's brother, had also resigned. The company's difficulties multiplied when the World Bank,a major customer, barred Satyam from new business, citing"improper benefits" given to Bank officials. Satyam rose to prominence in the late 1990s when Raju wasamong the first to spot outsourcing opportunities in the year2000 rollover problem, which saw the coming of age of thesoftware outsourcing industry.

Just three months ago, Satyam received a Golden Peacockaward from a group of Indian directors for excellence incorporate governance. By close of trade, Satyam's share value slumped to about$550 million from around $7 billion as recently as last June. New York-listed Satyam specializes in business software andback-office services for clients such as General Electric(GE.N) and Nestle (NESN.VX). SWAT TEAM Satyam said in a letter to employees that it had named RamMynampati as interim CEO, and named a "SWAT team" of seniormanagers to help him run the company Analysts said that was unlikely to satisfy investors "I think there is no future for this stock. This case forIndia is similar to what happened to Enron in the U.S.," saidJigar Shah, senior vice-president at Kim Eng Securities "It will not stop at Satyam Many more companies will comeinto scrutiny like that. There is a strong possibilityinvestments in India will be affected." The scandal set off a wave of condemnation from Indianmarket regulators and government officials, and prompted bankerMerrill Lynch to terminate its engagement with Satyam.