The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has banned global auditing firm Price Waterhouse Network from auditing any listed company in the country for two years for its role in the 2009 Satyam Scandal that became India’s biggest corporate fraud.
According to Livemint.com the market regulator said PwC committed an accounting fraud and did not comply with auditing standards.
The Satyam Computer Services, scandal was a corporate scandal affecting India-based company Satyam Computer Services in 2009, in which chairman Raymalinga Raju confessed that the company had manipulated the accounts by US$1.47-Billion.
PricewaterhouseCoopers affiliates served as independent auditors of Satyam Computer Services when the report of scandal in the account books of Satyam broke. The Indian arm of PwC was fined $6 million by the SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) for not following the code of conduct and auditing standards in the performance of its duties related to the auditing of the accounts of Satyam.
The ban will come into effect from financial year 2018-19 and won’t affect the auditing work for the year 2017-18.
SEBI also ordered Price Waterhouse, Bangalore and two of its erstwhile partners to jointly forfeit “wrongful gains” of about 131 million rupees ($2.06 million) plus interest within 45 days. -Kenyan WallStreet
