Satyam loses UK Upaid appeal - Forgery, fraud case moves on to Texas

By Harsha Pramod @ Thursday, May 15, 2008 9:51 AM

Section - Business/Legal

The Court of Appeal in London has confirmed a High Court Judgment against Satyam Computer Services in favour of online and mobile payments service leader, Upaid Systems.

The court rejected Satyam’s appeal to prevent Upaid's fraud and forgery claims in a US court. The ruling permits Upaid to pursue a lawsuit against Satyam for forgery, fraud, misrepresentation, and breach of contract, in the Texas Federal Court.

Satyam had solicited a High Court injunction in London in September 2007 on the grounds that a 2003 commercial agreement ending the association between the two companies prohibited all future claims against it for all past practices and that any outstanding claims against it had to be tried in London.

The High Court refused the request in January 2008, following which Satyam appealed the decision. A Court of Appeal refused the request and awarded the charges against Satyam and also denied leave to appeal to the House of Lords.

Joanne Hunter, a spokesperson for Upaid said, “…the damage done to Upaid has been made even worse by the time wasted in London while Satyam tried to avoid the consequences of their own actions, rather than doing all it could to help a former customer by addressing the substantive issues raised in Texas”.

She added that with the London issues out of the way, Upaid could now look forward to pusuing the case in Texas, where the forgeries were first exposed. X