'सत्यम'चा फुगा फुटला
देशातील आघाडीची सॉफ्टवेअर कंपनी गणल्या गेलेल्या "सत्यम कॉम्प्युटर्स' कंपनीच्या अध्यक्षांनीच कंपनीची आर्थिक स्थिती अवाच्या सव्वा फुगवून आर्थिक भरभराटीचा फुगा आणला होता, असे बुधवारी स्पष्ट झाले. वर्षानुवर्षे केलेल्या या गैरप्रकाराची कबुली देऊन, अध्यक्ष रामलिंग राजू यांनी पदाचा राजीनामा दिला. राजू यांचे बंधू व कंपनीचे व्यवस्थापकीय संचालक बी. रामा राजू यांनीही पदाचा राजीनामा दिला. देशाच्या कॉर्पोरेट क्षेत्रातील हा सर्वांत मोठा गैरप्रकार मानला जात असून, कंपनीच्या ५३ हजार कर्मचाऱ्यांचे भवितव्यही त्यामुळे धोक्‍यात आले आहे.
त्यातून भारताची कॉर्पोरेट आणि सॉफ्टवेअर क्षेत्रातील उज्ज्वल प्रतिमाही डागाळली जाण्याची शक्‍यता आहे. नीतिमत्ता, कॉर्पोरेट व्यवस्थापन, हिशेब आणि व्यवसाय सेवा यांबाबतची विश्‍वासार्हताही धोक्‍यात येणार आहे. या प्रकरणाची सखोल चौकशी केली जाईल आणि गैरप्रकाराच्या सूत्रधारांवर कडक कारवाई होईल, अशी घोषणा कॉर्पोरेट व्यवहार मंत्री आणि सेबी यांनी केली.
हा प्रकार उघड झाल्यानंतर "सेबी'ने कंपनीच्या शेअरची खरेदी, विक्री किंवा अन्य सर्व व्यवहारांची सत्यता तपासून पाहण्याचे आदेश दिले. कंपनीच्या हिशेब नोंदींची तपासणीही होणार आहे. हे सर्व प्रकरण गंभीर गैरप्रकार तपास कार्यालयाकडे सुपूर्त करण्यात येणार आहे.
दोषींवर कारवाई होईल तेव्हा होईल, पण या गैरव्यवहारमुळे ५३ हजार कर्मचाऱ्यांचे भवितव्य धोक्‍यात आले त्याचे काय? "सत्यम'सारखे गैरव्यवहार रोखण्यासाठी कोणते उपाय योजावेत, या बद्दल आपल्या प्रतिक्रिया कळवा...
4 comments:
It is indeed a very shocking news to the entire IT industry of the world, not India alone.
Having actively worked in IT Marketing field for past 10 years for several leading IT companies, I can feel that the aftershocks will be borne by the entire world already when there is a deep recessionary trend.
Let us first see the reasons, why this happened. As it appears now but would be clearer in days-to-come, it's hard to believe that the whole situation is just one man's handiwork and / or greed to stay at top.
If we analyse the possible root causes of this failure, it can be as follows, and the actions can be taken as appropriate. I added a few suggestions from my side.
1. Corporate Accounting Practices and Auditors' role in covering fictitious books. - Certainly they cant shy away from it and if Raju is to be punished for hiding the cash related facts, Audiotors are equally accountable for not earthing the problem in time. Those related should be BANNED to work in India or Rest of the world by world community. GOI should not shy away to ban PWC as ROW will not shy away now to ban Satyam.
2. Role of Independent Directors - Nobody sees the books in details. Surprising, Not so much ! Especially when most speak same language, come from same family, same region or same college or same town, same country (for a so called MNC).If this is the trend in rest of the IT companies, it should be immediately sensed as THREAT factor by investors and disinvest or for better, not invest at all.
3. Whistleblowers' Silence - In the western / developed world, whistleblowers are rewarded. I am sure if you speak with any Satyam Employee (who would like to thrash his or her ESOP at come-what-may-price now) at least many of them would say that they knew "something" was wrong. But why did not that same employee blow a whistle ? THIS, is simply not an INDIAN culture to stand up against corruption. ACB or not, people firmly believe that being corrupt is a way of life. "Chalata Hai" is the attitude. More, even the NASSCOM does not have any active policy towards awarding the whistleblowers. If they openly say so and reward at least 1 Crore to unearth scams (in own companies), I am sure thousands of crores of investors wont be lost later at such a sorry stage. NASSCOM can also claim this money later from appropriate authorities.
4. SEBI, laws of the land and effectiveness to curb repeat situations - Now everyone says they are shocked, they will investigate and take action. What action will they take, Delist Satyam at the most, then EOW will file cases after several years of investigation and at the most 7 years max of imprisonment for the person/s involved ? Surely it's not enough when millions of small investors, fortune 500 customers, 50000+ employees, their dependent families, vendors, IT aspirant students and more over each Indian (who is still proud of his country) is cheated by Raju and his so far unfound colleagues.
Incidentally I read statements of an Hon Minister of GOI in the newspaper today. He said the whole Satyam story is related to Private Sector which WE the GOI are not supposed to monitor and there is NO QUESTION of bailing it out...! WOW, what a Government Strategical Answer ? Would this same minister say the same thing, had it been a PSU ? Would he dare to say the same thing if it was AI or SBI/BOI/ONGC ?
Some immediate actions (both corrective and preventive) can be taken by GOI-MOF, SEBI, Investors and all.
1. Improve Corporate Governance Acts and make punishments so stricter and stronger that people like Raju wont dare to do any thing wrong again. 160 years RI is jail ? May be far-fetched, but for multiple scams in same organisations, he and all the guilty should spend his rest of life in prison. Only then would others take a lesson.
2. All companies who cross 100 Crore level, must have Independent Directors (NO REMUNERATION PAID) whose honest role should be to probe into wrong doings that are possible, just like independent auditors. If required, let NASSCOM / GOI do this and pay these directors. There are many good men and women who are available who will gladly do this job.
3. NASSCOM should create a clear whistleblower-award-policy for employees and awards should be big. Only then will employees come up.
4. Ordinary people who invest hard earned money in IT companies should take a cue and invest in other areas for time being. Surely not all IT Cos are bad as Mr. Narayan Moorthy said, but it would be wise to divest in IT and reinvest in multiple folders like Engg, Oil, Power, Bullion or Forex.
5. GOI - Ministry for Labor & Welfare, should also set up a committee for what can be done to improve IT sector employees' morale as they are not allowed to form any unions, let alone asking their own salaries in Time or protesting against forced overworking at onsite / offshore w/o getting paid for extra work. This is really a big challenge now as one cant stop to think as to what will happen to those 52000 people and their families. Will Satyam pay them all min 6 month salary and allow those who want to leave ?
I am sure various industry experts would agree that some of these actions will lead to improvement of India's image in ROW in a longer run.
Satyam's revelations are extremely shocking in India's corporate history. Urgent & concrete steps need to be taken to prevent occurrence of such events. Few deterrent steps may include :-
1. Current punishment under Indian laws seems to be inadequate. For serious frauds such as Satyam, there has to be provision under which the guilty may even be hanged till death.
2. Undue importance given to stock markets and share prices in the name of investor wealth. In fact stock prices do not always reflect company's worth and earning capacity. They are rigged by brokers and unscrupulous promoters. There has to be certain govt. regulations that curb the granting of ESOPs and performance incentives to senior management who often try to enhance short term share price to make money.
3. Properties and bank accounts of all the executive and non-executive directors on the board of Satyam should be immediately attached. These people have breached the public trust and have no right whatsoever to plead ignorance. They should be severely punished.
4. Executive management committee of people of repute with fair participation of senior employees (in terms of no. of years and not level in the hierarchy) should be formed to take care of the affairs of the company and employee welfare.
5. The clients should be immediately approached in order to restore their confidence.
6. ICAI should investigate the negligence or otherwise on the part of auditors and senior finance personnel of Satyam. If found guilty, ICAI should cancel the membership of all the guilty CAs involved in this fraud.
IT WAS A SHOCK TO HEAR THE NEWS BEING FLASHED ON PRACTICALLY EVERY CHANNEL ABOUT ONE OF THE LEADING I.T. COMPANIES OF THE WORLD. IT WAS WITH GREAT PRIDE THAT STUDENTS OF ENGINEERING DISCLOSED ABOUT THEY BEING SELECTED IN 'SATYAM' IN CAMPUS SELECTIONS. THE NEWS SET A FEELING OF INSECURITY AMONGST THE LAYMAN. IF A COMPANY LIKE 'SATYAM' COULD FAIL SO BADLY, THE QUESTION IS WHO IS TO BE REIED ON. THIS SPECIALLY ON THE BACKGROUND OF THE HUGE INVESTMENT THAT VARIOUS FOREIGN COMPANIES ARE NOW WILLING TO MAKE IN INDIA.
ADVOCATE.MRS.SULBHA CHIPADE,KOLHAPUR
Its not shocking at all. In the USA, many people of Hydrabad get employment with Vocatinal IT courses from India (FAKE Certificates) and FAKE RESUMES.
SATYAM IS THE MASTER OF FAKE IN ITS HUB.
Post a Comment