ICAI sets up special panel to look into Satyam audit

Chartered accountants body Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) today constituted a six-member special committee to look into the auditing of crisis-hit Satyam Computer, whose disgraced founder Chairman Ramalinga Raju has confessed to fudging accounts.

The special committee will be headed by ICAI Vice-President Uttam Prakash Aggarwal and submit its report on the Satyam auditing issue on February 11, a spokesperson of the regulator said.

ICAI council members -- S L Dogra, Amarjeet Chopra, Subodh Aggarwal and Akshay Gupta -- are members of the special committee. A government nominee -- K R Maheshwari, a banker and chartered accountant -- is the sixth member.

The committee will go to the root of the matter, ICAI President Ved Jain had said yesterday, after the institute council's meeting.

ICAI is scrutinising the role of PwC, which audited the accounts of Satyam Computer, whose accounts had been fudged to show inflated profits.

The regulator has given showcause notice to PwC and asked it to submit all balance sheets, financial statements and related documents of Satyam Computer audited by it.

If found guilty, individual auditors could face a lifetime ban, but no action could be taken against PwC by ICAI.