May 2002
PwC comes under fire over Gazprom audit
Russia
Minority investors in state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom are suing
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company's auditor, for what they claim
are "misleading" reports that PwC prepared for Gazprom's
management.
Hermitage Capital Management is Russia's leading
private-equity fund with more than $650 million under management
and one of the biggest foreign investors in Gazprom. Its chairman,
Bill Browder, is unhappy with PwC, which he claims has whitewashed
relations between the gas giant and private gas trading company
Itera.
Browder has brought two lawsuits against PwC and has asked the
Russian finance ministry to pull PwC's audit licence. He says he
intends to follow up with legal action in the US and will ask the
US Securities&Exchange Commission to launch an investigation if
he wins in Russia.
This is the first time that Russia's audit laws will be tested and
Hermitage has asked for the number of judges at the Moscow
Arbitration...
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