DailyPost 2462
THE CORRUPTION PANDEMIC!
The more it is claimed to have left us, more it remains with us in a new energized avatar. We are not talking of the pandemic Covid-19 just gone by but of corruption which has become endemic to the system, and can withstand any onslaught against it. India Against Corruption could have become a watershed moment for the fight against corruption, but the was not to be. The legal mandate in the form of Lokpal and associated mechanism created to wage war against corruption is yet to deliver results in the public domain. Corruption that we talk about is restricted to the government or so it is made out to be.
The private sector is the holy cow, for the reason of lack of scrutiny and glare the governments and its agencies face. More often than not, there is private sector element of it. Somehow, that does not become the centre of any heated debate. Somewhere the public exchequer thought process comes to play and for sure it should count. Nonetheless, if the private sector turns a blind eye to corruption, it is both creating and subsisting on a termite ridden system. The real robustness is never going to happen. The current issue in question is the IT giant TCS landing in turmoil because of a bribery scandal.
A bribery scandal involving senior officials has come to light in this Tata Group company. Mint reports that “certain individuals with the company’s resource management group have been accepting bribes from staffing firms to secure jobs for their candidates over an extended period.” Generally, the internal systems are not able to find such scandals. In this instance too, it took a whistle blower to blow the lid off this scandal. The investigation done in this regard led to sending the head of recruitment on leave, and terminating four officials of RMG division. It also imposed a ban on three staffing firms.
Not long back BharatPe sued its former MD Ashneer Grover for fraud. It said that Grover and his family created fictitious vendors in Panipat to provide services to BharatPe. They raised fake invoices and overcharged the firm for recruitment. They were other allegations as well. One of the leading stock market brains has often said, that 85% of the promoters lack financial credibility. If in any company you see auditor fees rising excessively, you can take is as red herring. We all know of the Satyams, IL&FSs and the ICICIs, not to talk of the nefarious Yogi NSE saga. Forensic Audit found its way into the Companies Act 2013. It speaks of a pandemic then itself. If Lokpal and RTI catchment area is spread to Public Limited Companies, what can be outcome?
EVERY ONSLAUGHT HAS STRENGTHENED CORRUPTION IN THIS COUNTRY.
Sanjay Sahay