“surprised and disappointed” that India’s Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) has pressed charges against two of the firm’s
partners allegedly involved in the Satyam Computer Services fraud
despite a separate investigation apparently exonerating them.
In a charge sheet filed this month, the
CBI accused PW auditors S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri,
among other Satyam suspects, of criminal conspiracy, cheating by
impersonation, forgery of valuable security, forgery for the
purpose of cheating, using a forged document as genuine, the
falsification of accounts and the disappearance of evidence.
A recent Institute of Chartered Accountants of
India (ICAI) investigation found the auditors were given false
documents that prevented them detecting the scam.
“We have not come across any evidence of
wrongdoing and both partners vigorously deny any wrongdoing,” Price
Waterhouse stated.
“The fraud perpetrated by Mr [B Ramalinga Raju
– former Satyam chairman] and his cohorts was designed to, and did,
circumvent PW India’s audit process. The two Satyam audit partners,
and Price Waterhouse India, were victims of that fraud.”
The scandal unfolded in January when financial
irregularities totalling more than $1 billion were discovered at
the Indian software company. Gopalakrishnan and Talluri were
arrested in January on charges of criminal conspiracy and
collusion.
Satyam’s former chief financial officer
Vadlamani Srinivas told an investigation committee from the ICAI
that the auditors had no role in the scandal because they were
provided with forged documents. Srinivas said the fraud was
perpetrated by Raju, the company’s managing director B Rama Raju,
cost accountant G Ramakrishna and himself.
Gopalakrishnan retired from PW at the end of
March. Talluri remains suspended, pending the investigations, the
firm said.
