India’s Supreme Court has cancelled bail for two of corruption-struck IT services firm Satyam’s former auditors.
Subramani Gopalakrishnan, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and V S Prabhakar, Satyam’s internal auditor, who have yet to be tried for their alleged involvement in the company’s $3 billion fraud scandal, were granted bail in June 2010.
However, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) argued that bail should be revoked for the pair as they may have been directly involved in the scam.
The CBI’s lawyer alleged that PwC partner Gopalakrishnan had "taken exorbitant fees from the company (Satyam). He even took charges for other services. It may be that the money was to help [the company’s former executives] in conspiracy."
Indian newspaper the Business Standard quotes a CBI insider as saying that “the main ground for pressing for cancellation of their bail was that they might influence witnesses — all of them Satyam employees".
The trial’s judgment is due by July 31 this year.