HC refuses to stay Satyam trial

HYDERABAD: The AP High Court on Thursday dismissed the appeals filed by two accused in the Satyam scam. The two, chief financial officer Vadlamani Srinivas, and vice-president (finance) G Ramakrishna of the erstwhile Satyam Computers Services Ltd (SCSL), sought stay of the trial in the CBI court till the jurisdiction of the special court pertaining to the case made out by Enforcement Directorate (ED) is finalised. They contended that the two trials, one in the CBI court and the other in ED court, would adversely affect their case.
Earlier, a single judge of the high court dismissed their pleas after describing them as frivolous. The ED is seeking the nod of the high court to designate the same trial court trying the CBI case as a special court for the ED as well. Since the HC is yet to deliver its decision on the matter, it's premature to nurture apprehensions about two courts, two trials etc, the single judge had said. He described the petition as a delay tactic by the accused contrary to the assurance they gave to the Supreme Court earlier that they would cooperate with the court for a speedy completion of the trial.
Aggrieved by the dismissal of their petition by the single bench, the accused preferred an appeal before the division bench comprising of chief justice PC Ghose and justice Vilas V Afzalpurkar urging it to set aside the order of the single judge and restrain the trial court from going ahead with the trial. Noting that it is not inclined to interfere with the job of the trial court which is at an advanced stage with the completion of the arguments of the prosecution etc, the HC bench dismissed the appeal.