Satyam sues former directors, Price Waterhouse

Mumbai, Jan 9 (PTI) Satyam Computer Services today said it has filed a suit in a court in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad against its former Board of Directors, certain employees and the company's audit firm Price Waterhouse seeking damages for perpetrating fraud. "The company filed a suit in the City Civil Court, Hyderabad, against the past Board of Directors, certain former employees and Price Waterhouse, the former statutory auditors, its affiliates and partners, seeking damages for inter-alia perpetrating fraud, breach of fiduciary responsibility, obligations and negligence in performance of duties," Satyam, now Mahindra Satyam, said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Satyam was taken over by India's Mahindra group in 2009 and rechristened as Mahindra Satyam, after its founder Ramalinga Raju admitted to an about Rupees 140 billion accounting scam in 2009. (Current exchange rate Rs 52.5 = US$ 1). US regulator Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) had in April, 2011 imposed a penalty of USD 17.5 billion jointly on Satyam Computers, PriceWaterhouse India and affiliate auditors for the accounts bungling that went undetected for several years. Satyam agreed to pay a fine of USD 10 million towards settlement of charges of fraudulently "overstating the company's revenue, income and cash balances by more than USD 1.0 billion over five years". SEC asked PriceWaterhouse India to pay USD 6 million in penalty for conducting "deficient audits of the company's financial statements and enabling a massive accounting fraud to go undetected for several years". Other affiliates, Lovelock & Lewes and Price Waterhouse Bangalore agreed to pay the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) a USD 1.5 million penalty for their violations of PCAOB rules and standards in relation to the Satyam audit engagement. PTI