It's official: Fast Search & Transfer has been charged with accounting fraud, according to Reuters. The police are raiding Fast's offices today.

On the upside for Fast customers: the charge regards "accounts from before Microsoft came in," and Redmond acquiring the Norwegian enterprise search vendor last January is now proving to be an essential safety net. On the downside: it's hard to imagine this won't be disruptive for the Microsoft subsidiary. And as an interesting sidenote: as Reuters points out, "The police and Norwegian Ministry of Justice are among Fast's customers in Norway."