Price Waterhouse asks for extra time from ICAI

Mumbai, Feb 2: Price Waterhouse, (part of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)), auditors of the fraud-hit Satyam Computers have sought extra time to respond to the show cause notice issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on Saturday, Jan 10.

The auditing firm was given 21 days time to respond to ICAI's notice in inflating the profit of Satyam Computers.

"Since accountable persons are not in a situation to reply to questions due to the developments, which took place in Hyderabad, Price Waterhouse has requested for extra time," said Ved Jain, President of ICAI while addressing the media. Under the rule (8) 3 of the ICAI act, ICAI might extend the time of responding to the show cause notice to 30 days.

On being asked if ICAI would give the firm extra time, Jain replied that "the pinciple of natural justice is an inherent part of law under which such decisions are taken" and said that the final decision will be taken by the director discipline.

On Saturday, Jan 24, two Price Waterhouse auditors were arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police for colluding with Ramalinga Raju in fudging the company's accounts.

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)