Satyam Computer Services has been barred from business with the World Bank, a spokesman for the World Bank said on Tuesday, confirming a report by Fox News.
Fox News said in a report on its website the World Bank had banned Satyam from all World Bank-related business for a period of eight years from September.
It said the ban was due to “improper benefits to bank staff” and “lack of documentation on invoices” and cited Robert Van Pulley, a top World Bank information technology official.
“The information is true,” Sudip Mozumder, a spokesman for the World Bank in New Delhi, said by telephone.
A spokeswoman for Satyam said the company did not comment on individual clients.
Shares in the Hyderabad-based software firm, which is also listed in New York, closed down 13.55 per cent at Rs 140 on Tuesday.
Satyam, the country’s fourth-biggest software services exporter, shocked the market last week with a proposed deal to buy two firms which management had a stake in. Although it bowed to investor outrage and cancelled the plans to buy two builders just 12 hours after the deals were announced, a slew of brokerages have downgraded the stock saying it would be difficult for the firm to restore investor and client confidence.