NEW DELHI (AFP) - Police investigators handling India's largest corporate scandal said the fraud involving outsourcing firm Satyam amounted to 140 billion rupees (S$4 billion), double what was originally suspected.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) - which filed new charges on Tuesday against 10 suspects, including company founder and chairman B. Ramalinga Raju - warned on Thursday that the scandal could grow further.

'The supplementary charge sheet we filed this week takes to 140 billion rupees the total amount we believe is involved in the scandal,' CBI deputy inspector-general V.V. Laxmi Narayana told Agence France-Presse.

'In a couple of days, we will file another charge sheet in the case' that could increase the amount even further, said Mr Narayana, who is heading the probe.

The earlier estimate of the fraud was 71 billion rupees.

Mr Narayana said the latest figure was based on disclosures allegedly made to investigators by Raju and the nine other suspects during questioning.

Raju stunned India's financial world in January when he declared that he had overstated profits for years and inflated the company's balance sheet by more than US$1 billion (S$1.4 billion).

He, his brother and the other suspects were placed in custody on charges of conspiracy, cheating, forgery and falsification of accounts. The Satyam founder is in hospital, being treated for cardiac problems and hepatitis, while the others are in jail.

In April, mid-sized Indian computer outsourcer Tech Mahindra, part of leading Indian vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra, paid nearly US$600 million for a majority stake in Satyam, rescuing it from imminent collapse.

Mr Vineet Nayar, a senior Satyam executive, told Dow Jones Newswires that he did not expect any additional liability to arise from the new fraud allegations.

'The CBI is talking about fraud by some individuals,' he said. 'It has nothing to do with the company.'

Satyam, based in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, rebranded itself as Mahindra Satyam as part of its bid to shake off the scandal.

The suspects allegedly used various methods to swindle money, including forging board resolutions to illegally obtain loans, using fake invoices to get money and falsifying other accounts, according to Mr Narayana.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Salman Khursheed praised Tech Mahindra for its efforts in rescuing the struggling company.

'Let us trust the good work that they are doing,' the minister said in New Delhi.

Before the scandal broke, Satyam was ranked as India's fourth-largest information technology services group by revenue. Its clients included some of the world's largest companies, such as Nestle, General Electric and General Motors.

Is this article useful to you?