The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Thursday barred global auditing firm Price Waterhouse from issuing audit certificates to any listed company in India for two years for its alleged collusion in the multi-crore Satyam Computer Services scam.
The capital market regulator also ordered disgorgement of over Rs. 13 crore wrongful gains from the audit major and it's two erstwhile partners, S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri, who worked on Satyam's accounts.
SEBI's order comes nearly nine years after the scam at Satyam Computer Services surfaced and after two failed attempts by Price Waterhouse to settle the case through consent mechanism.
This is also one of the most stringent orders passed by any regulator against a 'Big Four' audit major.