Satyam Case – ICAI bans Srinivas Talluri and Vadlamani Srinivas from practice for life

Accounting regulator ICAI on Monday barred the ex-CFO of the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services, Srinivas Talluri, and former Pricewaterhouse auditor Vadlamani Srinivas from practice for life, while slapping a Rs 5 lakh penalty on them over the Rs 14,000 crore fraud at the IT firm. The Disciplinary Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has found the two auditors guilty of professional misconduct, said Jaydeep Shah, the newly elected President of the institute.

“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 President.

Shah added that the verdict on ex-PW partner S Gopalakrishnan and V Prabhakar Gupta, former internal auditor, would be finalised in a month.

Earlier, the ICAI had barred from practice two Lovelocke & Lewes auditors Pulavarthi Siva Prasad and Chintapatla Ravindernath 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”.

Lovelock & Lewes, Kolkata, had an understanding with Price Waterhouse, Bangalore, pursuant to which the former was deputed to carry out the audit of Satyam Computer Services. The audit of Satyam was appointed in the name of Price Waterhouse, Bangalore.

A massive accounting fraud 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.