Two auditors embroiled in the multi-crore Satyam accounting scandal have approached the Supreme Court against a lower court order that permitted the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the country’s accounting regulator, to initiate disciplinary proceedings against them.
The apex court would consider the appeal petition filed by S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri on Monday, ICAI President G Ramaswamy said.
Addressing a press conference, Ramaswamy said the appeal was against a Delhi High Court decision to quash the petitions filed by the auditors to stall disciplinary proceedings.
The court had also directed ICAI institute to continue with disciplinary proceedings, independent of the pending criminal cases filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the criminal court. The interrogation of the auditors is needed for ICAI to conclude its disciplinary proceedings against them.
After the Satyam scandal in January 2009, ICAI had framed preliminary charges against four auditors for professional misconduct. While Talluri is out on bail, three others—Gopalakrishnan, Vadlamni Srinivas, former CFO and V Prabhakar Gupta, former internal auditor—are still behind bars.
The CBI chargesheet has alleged that external auditors were paid hefty sums to cook up company accounts, thus becoming part of the crime.
If proven guilty of professional misconduct, the members could be barred from practice for up to five years or fined up to Rs 5 lakh each.
