Seven months after the arrest of two Price Waterhouse auditors in the scam at Satyam Computer Services Ltd, the accounting regulator has finally acted against one of them.

The executive committe of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, or Icai, has decided to withdraw S. Gopalakrishnan from 11 of its committees.

The decision was taken to facilitate independent investigation and avoid conflict of interest in the further enquiry of the Satyam case, said Uttam Prakash Agarwal, president of Icai. However, S. Gopalakrishnan will continue to remain an Icai member as the final decision of our disciplinary committe is pending.

Satyam founder S. Ramalinga Raju on 7 January confessed to doctoring the accounts of the software services provider to the tune of Rs7,136 crore over several years, triggering Indias biggest corporate fraud enquiry.

The Hyderabad-based firm has since been bought by Tech Mahindra Ltd in an auction arranged by a government-constituted board.