The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) on Tuesday set up a six-member special committee to look into the auditing of fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services, whose erstwhile founder-chairman B. Ramalinga Raju is now in custody following his confession of having fudged the accounts of the Hyderabad-based IT major.

The committee, headed by ICAI Vice-President Uttam Prakash Aggarwal, has been asked to submit its report on February 11. Four others are ICAI council members S.L. Dogra, Amarjeet Chopra, Subodh Aggarwal and Akshay Gupta, while K.R. Maheshwari, a banker and chartered accountant, is government nominee.

According to ICAI president Ved Jain, with the institute scrutinising the role of Price Waterhouse as auditor of Satyams accounts, which were fudged to show inflated profits, the special committee has been asked to go to the root of the matter. As audit regulator, the ICAI has already issued a show-cause notice to Price Waterhouse and asked it to submit all balance sheets, financial statements and related documents of Satyam audited by it.

The ICAI has clarified that its own accounts were duly audited and signed by the auditors and, after adoption by the institute, published in the Gazette of India as well as circulated among its members and filed with income tax authorities.

Referring to some press reports about the I-T assessment of the institute, the ICAI points out that exemption under Section 10(23 C)(iv) has not been withdrawn and it is only pending with the DG-Income Tax (Exemption).

In an official release here, the ICAI also said there was no violation of tax laws, hiding/concealment of any income, including income from coaching activities, and any loan granted to an associate body fell within the powers of the Council under the provisions of The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949.