PwC partners deny criminal activity over Satyam audit

The two PricewaterhouseCoopers partners arrested in connection with the Satyam scandal have issued an emphatic denial of involvement in any criminal activity during their work on the audit of the Indian outsourcing giant.

Srinivas Talluri and S Gopalakrishnan were arrested last week but a bail hearing in Mumbai yesterday failed to release from detention.

The firm promptly issued a statement on their behalf.

'Both Gopalakrishnan and Talluri have strongly rebutted the prosecution's allegations that they engaged in criminal conduct in relation to their work on the Satyam Computer Systems Ltd audit. In particular, their bail petitions both mention that they are innocent and that there is not an iota of material to link them with the accusations levelled against them.'

It is understood that a further bail application will be made later this week, with Thursday the most likely date.

PwC India have audited Satyam since June 2000 with Gopalakrishnan signing off all audits in that time except the last one which was supervised by Talluri.