Price Waterhouse Partners Detained in Satyam Investigation
JANUARY 24, 2009, 10:30 A.M. ET
By JACKIE RANGE
online.wsj.com
NEW DELHI -- Two Price Waterhouse partners have been detained by the police in India for further questioning in connection with the fraud investigation at Satyam Computer Services Ltd., Price Waterhouse said Saturday.
"We greatly regret that two Price Waterhouse partners have been detained today for further questioning," the company said in a statement. "We do not know the basis for them being detained. Over the last fortnight, the firm has fully cooperated in all inquiries and has provided the documents called for by the Indian authorities," the statement went on to say.
Satyam, India's fourth-largest software exporter by revenue until recently, was thrown into turmoil after founder B. Ramalinga Raju earlier this month said he overstated the company's profits over several years and created a fictitious cash balance of more than $1 billion.
The two Price Waterhouse partners, Srinivas Talluri and S. Gopalakrishnan, haven't been charged. Neither could be reached for comment Saturday. The firm began working with Satyam some eight years ago.
"We share the regulators' concern in understanding the full extent of the fraud and how it was accomplished. Like everyone else, we were shocked by the massive fraud at Satyam and by the steps undertaken to conceal it," the company said, saying it will continue to co-operate fully with the authorities.
Price Waterhouse is part of PricewaterhouseCoopers' global business, but a separate legal entity inside India.
Write to Jackie Range at jackie.range@wsj.com
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