The government today said the decision on awarding punishment to
ex-Pricewaterhouse partner S Gopalakrishnan and V S Prabhakar Gupta,
former internal audit head, involved in the accounting fraud at Satyam
Computer, is likely to be taken up by accounting regulator ICAI at its
next meeting.
"The decision on awarding punishment to S
Gopalakrishnan and V S Prabhakar Gupta is likely to be taken by the
Disciplinary Committee of the ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants
of India) at its next meeting," Minister of State for Corporate Affairs R
P N Singh said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
He added that
earlier this year, the names of ex-CFO of the erstwhile Satyam Computer
Services, Srinivas Talluri, and two Lovelocke & Lewes auditors
Pulavarthi Siva Prasad and Chintapatla Ravindernath have been removed
from the Register of Members by the ICAI and a fine of Rs 5 lakh each
has been imposed on all of them.
The audit of Satyam was appointed in the name of Price Waterhouse, Bangalore.
A
massive accounting fraud of over Rs 14,000 crore in IT company Satyam
Computer came to light in January, 2009, after its Founder B Ramalinga
Raju admitted to fudging the account books for many years.
Replying
to another query, Singh said that no CA firm, whether Indian or
foreign, can operate in the area of audit or assurance services in the
country without being registered with the ICAI.
However, he added
that "it is possible that several multinational accounting firms may be
operating in the country in the fields of audit/assurance services
through Indian audit firms/memebers who are registered with the ICAI".