PwC auditors face grilling over Satyam

The Indian authorities have detained two PricewaterhouseCoopers employees that worked on the auditing of IT outsourcing company Satyam.

The two accountants are currently being questioned by the Indian police over the scandal in which the chairman, B Ramalinga Raju, confessed to perpetrating a $1bn fraud.

Andhra Pradesh state police said that the two auditors would be held in judicial custody until 6 February.

PwC India said in a statement: 'We greatly regret that two Price Waterhouse partners have been detained today for further questioning. We do not know the basis for them being detained.'

The investigation agency alleged last week that the IT giant had claimed payroll for 53,000 staff when only 13,000 worked for them. However, under questioning the board of Satyam has reported that the workforce is in fact 53,000 strong.

Andhra Pradesh has said that the arrests were made due to evidence it had collected from PwC offices in India.

Further reading:

PwC left waiting by Satyam