Overseas auditors charged over AremisSoft
Indian and Cypriot firms face SEC charges
An accounting firm from India and one from Cyprus have been charged with
alleged misconduct by the Securities & Exchange Commission in their audits
of collapsed UK software group, AremisSoft Corp.
The two firms charged are Savvides & Partners/PKF in Cyprus and RK Dhawan
& Co from India.
Papers filed in a Manhattan court allege that they failed to conduct basic
auditing procedures that would have detected fraud at AremisSoft.
The US watchdog is seeking civil penalties from the firm.
The charges relate to the collapse of AremisSoft in 2002 which the SEC
alleged engaged in a number of fraudulent practices to make it appear as if the
company had sales growth.
Last year, former co-chief executive of AremisSoft, Roys Poyiadjis, agreed to
pay $200m (£114m) to settle charges that he unloaded millions of shares in the
software company while misleading investors about its revenue, WepCPA reported.
The payment was the largest amount ever recovered by the SEC.