Price Waterhouse's Gopalakrishnan guilty in GTB case

Three chartered accountants, including Price Waterhouse's S Gopalakrishnan who was involved in the Satyam case, have been found guilty of professional misconduct in the Global Trust Bank case by the disciplinary committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

"All the three people have been found guilty of professional misconduct by the disciplinary committee," ICAI President Uttam Agarwal said today.

The other two auditors, who have been found guilty by the committee in the GTB case five years after the bank had collapsed, are Price Waterhouse partner P Ramakrishna and Lovelock & Lewes employee Manish Agarwal.

The disciplinary committee report will be discussed by the ICAI's council at its meeting in March, Agarwal said.

He had told reporters yesterday that punitive action against the erring auditors would depend upon the gravity of offence.

The disciplinary committee had given the findings to ICAI in the GTB case relating to three financial years from 2000-01 to 2002-03, he had said.

The auditors were alleged of professional negligence in under providing for non-performing assets in the balance sheet of the Hyderabad-based GTB which later in 2004 was merged with the Delhi-based Oriental Bank of Commerce.