In a further strict action against erring auditors and executives, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on Monday banned Srinivas Talluri, ex-CFO of erstwhile Satyam Computer Services, and former Pricewaterhouse auditor Vadlamani Srinivas from practice for life.
The audit regulator also imposed a penalty of Rs.5 lakh each on the two executives for their role in the Rs.14,000-crore fraud at the IT firm.
According to the newly elected President of ICAI, Jaydeep Shah, the Disciplinary Committee of the institute found the two auditors guilty of professional misconduct. “The committee has ordered that the names Vadlamani Srinivas and Srinivas Talluri be removed from the Registers of Members permanently. Also, a fine of Rs.5 lakh each has been imposed on both of them (which is the maximum amount as per the Chartered Accountants Act),” he said soon after taking charge as the new chief.
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It may be recalled that in January, 2009, a massive accounting fraud — unprecedented in India's corporate history — came to light when Hyderabad-based Satyam Computer's founder B. Ramalinga Raju himself admitted to having fudged the IT firm's account books for a number of years.
The audit firm appointed for Satyam during those years was Pricewaterhouse, Bangalore.
Regarding the action being taken against other audit executives for their professional misconduct, the ICAI President said the verdict on ex-PW partner S. Gopalakrishnan and former internal auditor V. Prabhakar Gupta would be finalised in a month.
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The Institute of Chartered Accountants had earlier barred two Lovelocke & Lewes auditors Pulavarthi Siva Prasad and Chintapatla Ravindernath from practice for “serious gross negligence on the part of these two chartered accountants in the discharge of their duties as audit team members, which carried out the statutory audit of Satyam Computer Services.”