PW plans moving Sebi again for Satyam settlement

Audit firm Price Waterhouse (PW) today said it may again approach the Sebi to settle the cases related to the Rs 10,000-crore Satyam fraud, after being rejected an earlier application in this regard.

"We have received a communication from Sebi (rejecting PW's consent application) with regard to the consent process relating to the audit of Satyam. We remain in contact with Sebi regarding this matter and are currently considering next steps, including the possibility of filing another consent application," PW said in a statement.

A consent order refers to settling administrative or civil proceedings between the regulator and a party who may prima facie be found to have violated laws, as per Sebi.

The firm, whose partners were involved in auditing the accounts of Satyam, has filed a consent application last October seeking an earlier settlement of the investigations against the firm in the Satyam case.

The disciplinary committee of the ICAI, which probed the scam, had found four auditors from PriceWaterhouse--S Gopalakrishnan, Srinivas Talluri, P Shiva Prasad and CH Ravindranath -- prima facie guilty of professional misconduct.

Besides several agencies, including SFIO, ICAI and CBI, the scam was also probed by Sebi which had issued a showcause notice to PW.