Jan. 12: Satyam Computer Services will get a new chief executive officer, a chief financial officer and an auditor.

A three-member board, named by the government yesterday, met in Hyderabad today and tossed a number of options to clean up the mess in the scam-wracked company.

A new auditor will be appointed within the next 48 hours and asked to pore over the books and restate accounts in the past four to five years.

“No bank will lend to the company unless it can look at authenticated figures,” said HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, one of the three members the government picked over the weekend to save the tottering company.

The board has been in talks with two auditors. “We will be getting proposals from them tomorrow after which we will appoint one of them to restate the financials and announce the third quarter results,” Parekh said.

Speculation grew that one of the auditors the board spoke to was Bharat S. Raut, the firm that handles KPMG’s accounting business in India. Bharat Raut was the auditor for Satyam Infoway, a group subsidiary, back in 2002. Ernst & Young is also believed to have made a pitch for the Satyam account.

Pricewaterhouse, Satyam’s auditor which was dragged into the accounting scandal, is most likely to be dumped. But the decision will have to be taken by the shareholders at the annual general meeting later this year.

The new auditor will have a short brief to carry out a forensic audit. However, reports indicated that Ramalinga Raju had said he had fiddled the accounts since 2001, which could raise problems with the authenticity of the figures if the auditor trawls only the past five years’ accounts.

Satyam’s third quarter results, which were scheduled to come out on January 19, will be delayed. Parekh said the board would ask Sebi for permission to extend the deadline for the presentation of the quarterly results.

A guessing game was also on over the new chief executive who is likely to be parachuted into the company. Although the board members didn’t say it, there were enough indications that it would be an outsider. “We will need to inject fresh blood into the company,” Parekh said.

Parekh added that it would be difficult to find someone who would be prepared to give up his job at short notice to take up the tough assignment.

One name doing the rounds was Vivek Paul, the former vice-chairman of Wipro who left the company after a spat with Azim Premji in June 2005 that capped a six-year stint. Paul joined Texas Pacific Group (TPG), one of the world’s leading private equity investment firm, as a partner. Reports say Paul quit TPG on December 31 and could be free to take up the Satyam assignment.

In Delhi, commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath said the government could provide financial support to Satyam. He said it was for the board to come up with proposals.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who met Sebi chairman C.B. Bhave and other senior finance ministry officials, has directed cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar to co-ordinate the approach of the government.

Parekh and Kiran Karnik said the ministry of corporate affairs would name the other directors shortly. Last Friday, the company law board said the Satyam board could have up to 10 directors. The full board will then pick a chairman.

Parekh said they had no idea whether the company had enough money to pay salaries next month.

The company has large outstanding receivables — dues owed by the company’s clients. If that flows in within the next 60 days, Satyam will not face a cash crunch, the board members said.

Petitions filed by Sebi, the Andhra CID and Ramalinga Raju have all been posted for hearing on January 16, which means that the Satyam founder and his brother will have to stay at the Chanchalguda undertrials’ prison for at least a week.

The Satyam stock jumped 44 per cent to close at Rs 34.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. However, the American Depositary Share (ADS) was badly mauled on the New York Stock Exchange where it tumbled 90 per cent to fall below a critical level of $1 but then clawed back. If the ADS trades below this level for the next 30 days, it will automatically be delisted.