Satyam case: SAT refuses to stay Sebi ban on Price Waterhouse

NEW DELHI: The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Friday refused to lift the two-year ban Sebi imposed on Price Waterhouse (PW) from auditing listed companies in India. The tribunal, however, allowed the firm to continue auditing books for the current fiscal ending March and to continue servicing firms already taken on for the 2018 calendar year.

Last week, Sebi had barred PW from auditing listed companies in the country for two years, after a probe into a nearly decade-old, multi-crore Satyam accounting scandal that shook corporate India. PW appealed to SAT to lift the Sebi ban, but the Tribunal only gave it a reprieve to complete audits only for existing clients.

Posting the matter for further hearing on February 13, the two-member SAT bench observed that the Sebi order “shall not come in the way of audit assignments undertaken by PW and it network firms for fiscal 2107-18.Similarly, PW shall be at liberty to complete any other work of certification (besides audit) already in their hands.” PW has to submit a list of its existing clients before the Tribunal and to Sebi.

In a 108-page order, Sebi had also directed disgorgement of over Rs 13 crore wrongful gains by the auditing firm and its two erstwhile partners who worked on the IT company’s accounts namely S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri, who were restrained from directly or indirectly issuing any certificate of the audit of listed companies, compliance of obligations of listed companies and intermediaries registered with Sebi for three years.

Sebi had noted its order would not impact audit assignments relating to 2017-18 undertaken by the firms forming part of the PW network. On January 11, PW said there had been no intentional wrongdoings by its firms and partners in the Satyam case and has expressed confidence of getting a stay on the Sebi order.