Published On : Fri, Apr 10th, 2015

ICAI welcomes Special Court verdict in Satyam scam

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CA.Manoj Fadnis, President,ICAI

Nagpur: The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has welcomed the Special Court ruling of awarding 7-year jail for former Chairman of Satyam Computers B. Ramalinga Raju, his brother Rama Raju and eight other accused in the Satyam Computers scandal and imposing varying amounts of fine. All the 10 accused in the multi-crore Satyam Computers account fraud, were found guilty by the Judge B. Chakravarthy of the Special Court in Hyderabad on Thursday

The ICAI said, “As part of ICAI’s continuous drive to uphold the credibility, integrity and image of the accountancy profession in India, the regulatory mechanism of the ICAI is working assiduously. ICAI has been taking disciplinary action against its errant members as per the provisions of the Chartered Accountants (Amendment) Act, 2006 and Rules framed there under.

In the wake of Satyam scam, disciplinary action was initiated against S. Gopalakrishnan & S. Talluri, the concerned partners of the Statutory Audit firm, P. Siva Prasad & C. Ravindernath, Audit Incharge(s) from the said Audit firm, V. Srinivasu, then CFO of Satyam and V. S. Prabhakara Gupta, Head of Internal Audit Department of Satyam. After completion of enquiry against the aforesaid persons, the Disciplinary Committee having found them guilty of professional misconduct had awarded the maximum punishment of removal of their name(s) from the Register of Members permanently and also imposed a fine of Rs. 5 lakh each on them.

CA.Manoj Fadnis, President, ICAI said “ICAI initiated the proceedings in the Satyam case in Jan, 2009 immediately after the same was reported in the Media. ICAI initiated Disciplinary proceedings against the concerned members & the proceedings were completed in October, 2010 in all cases except one and reached finality in October, 2013 with the last case. The Appellate Authority constituted under Section 22A of the Chartered Accountants (Amendments) Act, 2006 in all cases, except one case which is yet to be decided by the said Authority also upheld the decision of ICAI.”

The details of proceedings initiated & conducted against each individual members involved are annexed.

While law took its own course, a special court sentenced the founder of the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services Ltd. and nine others to seven years of rigorous imprisonment after convicting them in India’s biggest case of corporate fraud. The CBI had charged the 10 suspects with collaborating to inflate revenue, fabricate invoices, falsify accounts and income tax returns and fake fixed deposit receipts to paint a rosy picture of the company’s financials to deceive the public.

CA.Manoj Fadnis, President, ICAI added “ICAI respects the decision of the Special Court which further validates the decision taken by the Institute. ICAI is committed to ensure justice in all disciplinary cases and thereby upholding the values of Excellence, Independence and Integrity which form the benchmarks of the profession.”