The Tribune, Chandiagrh
The fall of the IT czar by Aditi Roy Ghatak
There may be no confessional to explain why Ramalinga Raju confessed. Accountancy corridors are rife with stories of others getting away with more serious fraud. In fact, there is some derision with which the lurid acknowledgements of the Satyam supremo – a first generation cheat – are treated in those exalted circles. Elsewhere, the averments are regarded as sheer stupidity that will force the investigative searchlights into the universe of crooked corporate accounting practices.
Clearly, the problem was with Raju being a novice at the complex game of manipulative mathematics. He may have mastered the art of concealing the numbers but not how to manage the business environment. He did not know whom to please and how much.
India is a country where corporate fraud is a matter to be brushed under the carpet. Tax evasion is not a crime whether it be on a medical prescription or electronics goods; one is happy to refuse a receipt and evade the tax. That much is a matter of public knowledge. When it comes to bigger fraud, the first problem is to have the fraud seriously investigated and the second is to get a conviction.
The more than 50,000 cases under the Companies Act pending in the country’s courts with a conviction rate of 5 per cent or less is adequate testimony to this. The corresponding conviction rate in the UK is reportedly around 61 per cent.
The fall of the IT czar
Question: Maytas is Satyam if it is spelled backwards. What do you infer from it?
Prabu Chawla: Why are you surprised? It was meant to ensure reverse flow of money from Satyam to Maytas.
Comment: We may never get to the bottom pit of Corporate Corruption. The Politicians have made it a black hole, like investment in real estate inflating like a balloon and collaping. Or like smuggling, money laundering, hawala, and generating black money and invested in foreign banks, which comes back in the "FDI" route. The parallel unaccounted money is almost as vast as the GDP of the nation. This is the main reason why poverty and slums are prevalent in spite of 60 years progress, we have 70% population left poor. No reason to see why the motion picture Slumdog Millionaire is reaping the harvest. Satyam Raju is one in a million....sadly he spoke the truth to save the perpetrators.
