Price Waterhouse anguished over arrest of partners

Auditor Price Waterhouse was on Saturday anguished over the detention of two of its partners by the police investigating the Rs 7,800 crore fraud in Satyam, but said it would continue to cooperate fully with the authorities.

Auditor Price Waterhouse was on Saturday anguished over the detention of two of its partners by the police investigating the Rs 7,800 crore fraud in Satyam, but said it would continue to cooperate fully with the authorities.

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"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," said a statement from Price Waterhouse, the statutory auditors of Satyam Computer.

The Andhra Pradesh CID police on Saturday arrested PW's Chief Relationship Partner S Gopalakrishnan and Engagement Leader Srinivas Taluri as part of ongoing investigations into the accounting fraud disclosed by Satyam's founder Ramalinga Raju on January 7.

"Over the last fortnight, the firm (PW) has fully cooperated in all inquiries and has provided the documents called for by the Indian authorities.

"We share the regulators' concern in understanding the full extent of the fraud and how it was accomplished. Like everyone else, we were shocked by the massive fraud at Satyam and by the steps undertaken to conceal it," the statement added.

Raju, his brother Rama Raju and Satyam's former CFO Vadlamani Srinivas are already in judicial custody awaiting charges to be filed.