Bhave, RBI officials to brief House finance panel

NEW DELHI: SEBI chairman CB Bhave and representatives from RBI and the corporate affairs ministry are likely to brief the parliamentary standing committee on finance about the latest developments in the Satyam fraud at a meeting called on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

Apart from representatives from SEBI and RBI, officials from the banking division of the finance ministry have also been called by the committee to give details of the Rs 7,800-crore fraud, sources said.

The 30-member committee, headed by BJP���s Ananth Kumar, will try to ascertain the extent of the fraud, the role of auditors and veracity of the letter by founder chairman B Ramalinga Raju, who admitted to fudging Satyam accounts, according to sources.





Besides, the committee would also try to find out whether any pressure was being exerted on the investigating agencies to cover up the fraud amid speculation about the involvement of political personalities. In a bid to salvage the situation following the admission of fraud by Raju, the government superseded the board of Satyam and appointed its own nominees on the board.

The new board has already asked leading auditing firms���KPMG and Deloitte���to re-state Satyam���s accounts to find out the company���s true financial position. The board���s fourth meeting, scheduled for Monday was postponed, though no reasons were given.

The members of the parliamentary standing committee are also likely to inquire about the role of auditors in the Satyam fraud and the action taken by the Institute of Chartered Accountants against the auditing company.