The court hearing the alleged scam at Satyam Computer Services today denied bail to Price Waterhouse (PW) auditors S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the court that the auditors conspired with Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju, his brother B Rama Raju and former chief financial officer Srinivas Vadlamani, certified the company’s balance sheets and profit and loss statements and caused financial loss to small investors and shareholders.
The auditors grossly failed in complying with standard auditing practices, which amounted to professional misconduct, said the CBI.
PW India expressed disappointment that the two partners, who worked on the audit of Satyam’s financial statements, had again been denied bail. “The fraud perpetrated by Raju and his cohorts was designed to, and did, circumvent PW India’s audit process. The two partners were also victims of that substantial and elaborate fraud,” said a PW press release.
Even though it had seen no evidence of wrongdoing on their part, PW said it suspended both the partners from all duties in January, as it was “committed to highest standards of quality and service for its clients”.
Meanwhile, Ramalinga Raju and four others were produced before the same magistrate for providing specimen signatures. The CBI, in its petition, said verification of signatures and handwriting was necessary as “most of the documents appeared to be fabricated.”
Satyam former managing director B Ramaraju, Vadlamani and the PW auditors also submitted samples of their signatures.
According to CBI counsel B Ravindranath, the agency took about 50 samples in the presence of the defence counsel of each accused.
These signatures will be analysed by the multi-disciplinary investigation team of the CBI, which is spearheading the investigation.
