Case 1:09-Md-02027-BSJ Document 253 Filed 02/17/11 Page 1 of 163
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Case 1:09-md-02027-BSJ Document 253 Filed 02/17/11 Page 1 of 163 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK In re: 09 MD 2027 (BSJ) (Consolidated Action) SATYAM COMPUTER SERVICES LTD. SECURITIES LITIGATION JURY TRIAL DEMANDED This Document A..lies to: All Cases FIRST AMENDED CONSOLIDATED CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT BERNSTEIN LITOWITZ BERGER & GRANT & EISENHOFER P.A ^° ? GROSSMANN,LLP Jay W. Eisenhofer Max W. Berg er Keith M. Fleischman °D• rq Steven B. Singer Mary S. Thomas Bruce Bernstein Deborah A. Elman 1285 Avenue of the Americas, 38th Floor Ananda Chaudhuri New York, NY 10019 485 Lexington Ave., 29th Floor Tel: (212) 554-1400 New York, New York 10017 Fax: (212) 554-1444 Tel: (646) 722-8500 Fax: (646) 722-8501 Co-Lead Counsel for Plaintiffs Co-Lead Counsel for Plaintiffs BARROWAY TOPAZ KESSLER LABATON SUCHAROW LLP MELTZER & CHECK, LLP Joel H. Bernstein David Kessler Louis Gottlieb Sean M. Handler Michael H. Rogers Sharan Nirmul Felicia Y. Mann Christopher L. Nelson 140 Broadway Neena Verma New York, NY 10005 Joshua E. D'Ancona Tel: (212) 907-0700 280 King of Prussia Road Fax: (212) 818-0477 Radnor, PA 19087 Tel: (610) 667-7706 Co-Lead Counsel for Plaintiffs Fax: (610) 667-7056 Co-Lead Counsel for Plaintiffs i' Case 1:09-md-02027-BSJ Document 253 Filed 02/17/11 Page 2 of 163 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. SUMMARY OF THE ACTION 2 II. JURISDICTION & VENUE 7 III. PARTIES AND RELEVANT NON-PARTIES 8 A. Lead Plaintiffs 8 B. Additional Named Plaintiffs 9 C. Satyam 10 D. The Officer Defendants 11 E. The Maytas Defendants 12 F. PricewaterhouseCoopers Defendants 14 G. The Audit Committee/Director Defendants 19 H. Securities Act Additional Defendants 22 I. Relevant Non-Parties 22 IV. DEFENDANTS’ FRAUDULENT SCHEME 26 A. Defendants Fabricate Invoices for Nonexistent Customer Projects 33 B. Defendants Forge a Paper Trail to Conceal and Legitimize the False Proceeds of Nonexistent Customer Contracts 36 C. Defendants Establish Companies to Acquire Land Using Satyam Cash 39 D. Defendants Arrange Secret Loans to Satyam To Fill The Company’s Cash Void 41 E. The Rajus Cash In On Their Misconduct 42 V. PWC’ S ROLE IN THE PREPARATION AND APPROVAL OF THE SATYAM FRAUDULENT FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 44 A. The PwC Audit Team Conducted the Satyam Audits 50 i Case 1:09-md-02027-BSJ Document 253 Filed 02/17/11 Page 3 of 163 (1) PwC India and PwC USA Together Audited Satyam 50 (2) PwC USA Controlled PwC India’s Audits of Satyam and Opined On Its Financial Statements Filed with the SEC 53 B. PwC International Controlled PwC India 58 (1) PWC International Has the Infrastructure and Ability to Control the Actions of PwC Member Firms Including PwC India 59 (2) Internal Emails and Public Actions Demonstrate that PwC International Exercised Control over PwC India 61 C. PwC India Had Actual Knowledge of Satyam’s Fictitious Cash Balances and Overstated Cash Flows and Knowingly and Actively Engaged in Fraudulent Conduct 65 D. PwC India Profited Handsomely from its Role in the Fraudulent Scheme 66 E. The PwC Audit Team Recklessly Certified That Satyam’s Internal Controls Were Adequate In the Face of Obvious Red Flags 67 F. The Scale of the Fraud Further Evidences Culpable Participation 70 G. The PwC Audit Team’s Audit Procedures Were Inadequate and Not in Accordance with GAAS 71 (1) The PwC Audit Team Failed to Obtain Reasonable Assurance that the Financial Statements were Free from Material Misstatement Caused by Fraud 75 (2) The PwC Audit Team Failed to Adequately Plan, Direct and Supervise the Local Auditors 77 (3) The PwC Audit Team Failed to Resolve The Discrepancies Uncovered By Its Analytical Testing 84 (4) The PwC Audit Team Failed to Adequately Plan Its Audit, Did Not Understand Satyam’s Accounting Processes, and Failed to Assess the Nature of Satyam’s Business 86 (5) The PwC Audit Team Failed to Obtain Sufficient Competent Evidential Matter 87 ii Case 1:09-md-02027-BSJ Document 253 Filed 02/17/11 Page 4 of 163 VI. THE AUDIT COMMITTEE DEFENDANTS RECKLESSLY ALLOWED SATYAM TO ISSUE FALSE AND MISLEADING STATEMENTS 88 VII. FALSE AND MISLEADING STATEMENTS 94 A. Defendants Fraudulently Inflated Satyam’s Revenues and Related Operational Data 98 B. Defendants Fraudulently Inflated the Value and Extent of Satyam’s Assets 101 C. Defendants Fraudulently Concealed Related Party Loans and Satyam’s True Level of Indebtedness 104 D. Defendants Fraudulently Inflated the Number of Satyam Employees and Their Utilization Rates 105 E. Defendants’ False and Misleading Sarbanes-Oxley Certifications 107 F. Defendants Condition and Artificially Inflate the Marketplace for Satyam Ordinary Shares and ADSs Through Their Fraudulent Portrayal of the Company 107 G. PwC Issued False and Misleading Audit Reports 111 VIII. THE TRUTH IS REVEALED/PARTIAL DISCLOSURES 112 A. Post-Class Period Financials 116 IX. ADDITIONAL ALLEGATIONS OF SCIENTER 119 X. PLAINTIFFS ARE ENTITLED TO A PRESUMPTION OF RELIANCE 122 XI. THE STATUTORY SAFE HARBOR IS NOT AVAILABLE TO THESE DEFENDANTS 126 XII. ALLEGATIONS CONCERNING THE CLAIMS ON BEHALF OF PLAINTIFF BRIAN F. ADAMS AND THE SATYAM EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTIONS SUB-CLASSES 127 XIII. CLASS ACTION ALLEGATIONS 129 XIV. CLAIMS FOR RELIEF 133 XV. JURY TRIAL DEMAND 153 XVI. PRAYER FOR RELIEF 154 iii Case 1:09-md-02027-BSJ Document 253 Filed 02/17/11 Page 5 of 163 Lead Plaintiffs, Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi, Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme, SKAGEN AS, and Sampension KP Livsforsikring A/S, bring this securities class action on behalf of themselves and all other persons or entities, except the Defendants (defined infra) and their affiliates, who (a) purchased or otherwise acquired Satyam Computer Services Limited (“Satyam” or “the Company”) American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”); and/or (b) were investors residing in the United States who purchased or otherwise acquired Satyam common stock on the National Stock Exchange of India (“NSE”) or the Bombay Stock Exchange (“BSE”) between January 6, 2004 and January 6, 2009 (the “Class Period”), and who were damaged by the conduct alleged herein. This action is also brought on behalf of two sub-classes of Satyam employees who received and exercised stock options during the Class Period pursuant to Satyam employee option plans further detailed herein. Lead Plaintiffs, by their undersigned attorneys, allege the following upon personal knowledge as to themselves and their own acts, and upon information and belief as to all other matters. Lead Plaintiffs have derived substantial evidence supporting the allegations herein based on their investigation (made by and through their attorneys), which included, among other things, a review and analysis of: (1) public documents pertaining to the Defendants named herein; (2) Satyam’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs & Registrar of Companies and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI” ); (3) press releases or other public statements published or made by Satyam or the other Defendants; (4) analyst reports concerning the Company; (5) pleadings and witness statements in other litigations where Satyam or any of the other Defendants named in this case are defendants, including criminal proceedings pending in India; (6) interviews with former employees of the 1 Case 1:09-md-02027-BSJ Document 253 Filed 02/17/11 Page 6 of 163 corporate Defendants named herein; (7) media coverage regarding Satyam, its business, or any of the other Defendants named in this action; (8) consultation with economic and accounting experts; and (9) documents produced by Satyam to the SEC, which Satyam voluntarily produced to Lead Plaintiffs. 1 Many of the facts supporting the allegations contained herein are known only to the Defendants or are exclusively within their custody and/or control. Lead Plaintiffs believe that further substantial evidentiary support will exist for the allegations in this Complaint after a reasonable opportunity for discovery. I. SUMMARY OF THE ACTION 1. Satyam is an Indian information technology (“IT”) outsourcing company that was believed to be the fourth largest IT services company in India and one of the largest outsourcing companies in the world. This action arises from an admitted multi-faceted conspiracy to fraudulently overstate material aspects of the Company’s performance and financial condition to the investing public over a period of at least seven years. 2. “Satyam” is the Sanskrit word for “truth.” Throughout the Class Period, the Company was portrayed to the investing public as a healthy and growing business, with rapidly increasing revenues, robust cash flows, and a huge stockpile of cash and deposits on its balance sheet. It is now clear, however, that this portrayal was false. Defendants named herein engaged in an elaborate and carefully orchestrated fraud to materially overstate the Company’s apparent 1 These documents were initially produced by Satyam to the SEC in connection with SEC investigation HO-11044. In addition to certain bank statements and work orders, Satyam produced hundreds of emails by and among high-level PricewaterhouseCoopers personnel regarding the Satyam account. Based on the covering pages, the emails were first produced in 12 bound books to India’s Central Bureau of Investigation by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Lead Plaintiffs received the email production from Satyam in PDF format and without the referenced attachments. Given that PricewaterhouseCoopers worked on the Satyam engagement for over eight years, it is unlikely that the production represents the universe of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ correspondence regarding the audits. Nonetheless, the documents Satyam produced to the SEC, and in turn to Lead Plaintiffs, provide detail as to the various Defendants’ roles in the acts alleged herein. 2 Case 1:09-md-02027-BSJ Document 253 Filed 02/17/11 Page 7 of 163 success, complete with falsified financial statements, forged bank documents, an acquiescent Audit Committee, and the knowing and active participation of the Company’s outside auditor, the cross-border firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers (as defined below), which repeatedly certified the accuracy of the Company’s financial statements despite actual knowledge of their falsity.