Police investigating Satyam Computer Services have confirmed the outsourcing giant was a lot smaller than it had led people to believe.

According to the The News, Satyam had 20 per cent fewer staff than it claimed. The fake employees were paid but the money would go to as yet unnamed people.

The fake employee scam was discovered by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office who said that since a major chunk of the costs were actually salaries, a minor distortion in the number of employees could change the personnel expenses significantly.

A Satyam spokeswoman who appeared to be real told the News that she believed the staff numbers are accurate at this point of time. 

Of course she might not believe that later in the week when the imaginary people fail to return from holiday.

The company's website claims it had 53,000 staff, including those in subsidiaries and joint ventures as at end-September.  Since the scandal broke more than 2,000 staff have left.  We assume that these people may have been real. X

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