The Securities Appellate Tribunal today adjourned the hearing in the PriceWaterhouseCoopers-Sebi case to March 15, a company official said. The matter came before SAT yesterday. The case relates to the multi-crore rupee Satyam accounting scam wherein its Founder B Ramalinga Raju admitted to cooking up the company books. PwC was the auditor to the IT major at that time.
Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had slapped show-cause notices to the auditor. It had turned down appeals made by PwC to hold back its probe till the the criminal probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the Satyam scandal got over.
A senior advocate representing PwC declined to comment on the proceedings on the ground that the matter is sub-judice.
PwC has been under the market regulator”s lens following the scam for its alleged failure to conduct audit of the IT firm”s accounts properly.
PwC had earlier approached the Bombay High Court, challenging SEBI”s jurisdiction to probe audit firms but the Court had upheld Sebi’s jurisdiction to interrogate auditors of listed companies.
