SAT sets aside Sebi’s Satyam order

Turning down a Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) order,the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has allowed PriceWaterhouse (PW) to cross-examine ten witnesses in the Satyam fraud case. “The board is directed to allow the appellants (PriceWaterhouse) to cross examine the persons. The board is further directed to complete the enquiry expeditiously preferably within four months from the date of the order,” the SAT order said. The Tribunal also directed PW to cooperate with the Sebi and help early completion of the enquiry into the matter. Following the order,PW would be able to cross examine members of the PW team which were associated with the erstwhile Satyam Computer. These include Srinivas Talluri,C H Ravindranath,P Siva Prasad and N Ramu. Sebi,in its earlier order in December 2010,had rejected the plea of PW and others to cross examine them. The three-member bench of the SAT today issued the order on an appeal filed by the PW. While upholding the contention of the PW,SAT said,“We are of the view that there has been violation of principles of natural justice in not allowing cross-examination of the witnesses whose statements are being relied upon in the show-cause notice and also in not making available copies of the statements which have been relied upon by the board in issuing the show-cause notice.” The order pertains to enquiry in the Satyam case,which came to light after the company’s founder B Ramalinga Raju admitted in January 2009 to fudging of books of accounts. Satyam Computer was later taken over by Tech Mahindra and renamed as Mahindra Satyam.