[LINK] PwC partners refused bail over Satyam audit

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

PwC partners refused bail over Satyam audit
Michael Herman
February 04, 2009
Australian IT
http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25007049-15306,00.html

TWO PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) partners arrested in relation to 
India's largest-ever fraud will remain in custody until at least Friday 
after being denied bail yesterday.

A magistrate in Hyderabad, India, refused bail applications from S. 
Gopalkrishnan and Talluri Srinivas, who both deny criminal conduct.

Both partners worked as auditors to Satyam, India’s fourth largest 
outsourcing group, whose chairman, B. Ramalinga Raju, admitted to 
orchestrating over $US1 billion in fraud over several years.

The two partners, who have been suspended from PwC, were arrested over 
the weekend of January 24 and 25, two and half weeks after Satyam's 
founder and chairman made his confession.

The two men applied for bail last week but due to a series of delays, 
their application was only considered yesterday.

They are due to appear before the court on Thursday when prosecutors can 
ask a magistrate to extend their custody.

If the magistrate refuses, the two men will be released on Friday. 
Otherwise they could be detained for another two week period. Neither 
man has been charged.

PwC was not immediately able to say how long the men could be held 
without charge.

PwC has audited Satyam's accounts since 2000 with Mr Gopalkrishnan and 
Mr Srinivas serving as lead partners.

In a statement, PwC India said: "Both partners have strongly rebutted 
the prosecution's allegations that they engaged in criminal conduct in 
relation to their work on the Satyam Computer Systems audit.

"In particular, their bail petitions both maintain that they are 
innocent and that there is not an iota of material to link them with the 
accusations levelled against them. Their lawyers repeated this assertion 
during the bail hearing."

PwC said that the men remain partners of the firm and are being paid but 
have been suspended from client and management responsibilities.

Thomas Mathew, PwC’s head of audit in India, has also stepped down and 
Sam DiPiazza, the firm's global chief executive, visited India for 
crisis talks with staff and members of the Indian Government.

The Times

-- 
 
Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
brd at iimetro.com.au