Satyam case: ICAI to fast track proceedings against auditors

Accounting regulator the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) today said it will soon conclude the disciplinary proceedings against S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri, the two auditors embroiled in the multi-crore Satyam fraud.

"The Disciplinary Committee of the ICAI would be holding the hearing(s) in the said matter(s) at regular intervals and would try to conclude these cases by adopting the fast track mode," ICAI President G Ramaswamy said in a statement.

ICAI said it is following the Delhi High Court order which has quashed petitions filed by Talluri and Gopalakrishan and directed the institute to continue with disciplinary proceedings, "independent of the Criminal case(s) filed by the CBI pending against them in the Criminal Court".

After the Satyam scam broke in January 2009, the apex body of chartered accountants found four auditors guilty of misconduct. Besides, Talluri and Gopalakrishnan, Vadlamni Srinivas, former CFO and V Prabhakar Gupta, former internal auditor, are also being charged by the ICAI.

The CBI chargesheet has alleged that external auditors were paid hefty sums to cook up company accounts, thus becoming part of the crime.

ICAI's high-powered committee in its report had earlier said, prima facie, the conduct of the auditors both from Pricewaterhouse, which was the then statutory auditor of Satyam, and its internal audit team, were found negligent.

If proven guilty of professional misconduct, members could be barred from practice for up to five years or fined up to Rs 5 lakh.