Saturday, April 30, 2016

Fraud And Manipulation To Brighten Balance Sheet

It has been reported in recent past by RBI that Rs 1.14 lakh crore was written-off by public sector banks (PSBs) in the last three years.

AS per a report published in the reputed newspaper The Indian Express , it has come to light in response to RTI inquiry that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) says Punjab National Bank (PNB) wrote off over Rs 8,500 crore as non-performing assets (NPAs) in the last two years. But the PNB says it did not write off a single paisa during this period.

The Bank of India, on the other hand, claims its write-off in the last two years has been more than Rs 17,700 crore but the RBI puts the BoI write-off figure during this period at Rs 2,567 crore — less than 15 per cent.

RTI replies received by The Indian Express demonstrate disparity in figures of the banking regulator and the banks, raising questions about the extent of the bad loans. Most banks maintain they are not obligated under law or regulations to inform the RBI about the amount they write off.

Click Here To Read Full News Published Today in Indian Express

It anyone make analysis of various news related to bad debts, frauds, misreporting , window dressing , manipulation and fraudulent presentation of shining  balance sheet of each bank and each company of last few decades , truth will emerge and then it will not be exaggeration to say that the regulating agency like RBI or Ministry of Finance have totally failed to control, monitor and regulate public sector or private sector banks.


RBI and GOI both  trusts on certificates submitted by inspecting officials, auditors and bank officials as proof of good health of bank and correctness of financial conclusions arrived at different levels by different agencies. Our country in general runs on certificates. And certificates in general are purchasable commodity in the market.

Bankers obtain false certificates from its branches and bank auditors. Head office of these banks then prepare a certificate in RBI's format and submit a certificate of good health to RBI and RBI in turn assures Ministry of Finance that everything is OK in banking Industry .


Chartered Accountants who are invariably makers of artificial image of a firm and hence corrupt , submit false certificate of good health for each company and earn a lot of illegal or legal money in form of audit fees and misc charges. Similarly rating agencies sell good rating certificates to corporate houses so that they may borrow money from any lender easily. Majority of companies get success in managing good financial report about their company from CA of their choice.


We remember how a few years ago, a famous company called as Satyam Computer got an award for best corporate governance in a year and how in the next year a big fraud perpetuated by the  same company in nexus with auditors was exposed. We also remember how a highly reputed and popular private bank called as Global Trust Bank got an award for Best Bank of the year and the very next year a big scam of the bank came to light and the then government decided to merge this sick bank with a PSU bank called as Oriental bank of Commerce. There are still now so many so called strong banks which will prove disastrous in coming days.


WE also know how in last few decades as many as 23 private banks merged with other stronger bank, we know how many Regional Rural Bank merged with sponsor banks in last few years and we also know how many cooperative banks were forced to close operation in many parts of the country to conceal evil works of lenders and politicians.


RBI and GOI never try to learn lessons from frauds , failures and scams. They go on using one after other tools to change the bottle instead of changing the contents. Old wine in new bottle. All  governments of the past   have been seen  trying to put carpet on all evil works. Present government has though taken a lot of good steps in cooperation with RBI Governor , respected and learned Mr. Raghu Ram Rajan to clean banks. But it appears that for current government too, one and only panacea appears to be  merger and  consolidation of banks . I however do not favour it.

It is auditors who prepare false balance sheet for a company and it is they who certify accounts of a bad company which are fully manipulated and concocted. Satyam Computers is not an isolated example in corporate world. Majority of banks and companies are indulged in fraudulent presentation of financial reports. Lakhs of fake companies are in existence and SEBI is silent.


Every bank submits every year an audited balance sheet and they proudly come on TV to say that their balance sheet is certified by a team of CAs. It is also true that even after certification by veteran internal and external auditors , every year some bank or the other are exposed and their evil works come in picture . All stressed assets which are coming to light now have been given a certificate of good health by auditors in the past many times. People in general understand how bankers concealed bad debts and how they played foul game with stressed assets for years and decades to save provisions , to protect corrupt officials and to help corrupt borrowers in the name of positivity.


RBI knows very well how banks avoided provisions and how they inflated profit for decades and which got exposed almost a decade ago . RBI allowed  erring banks apportioning of accumulated large provisioning in five years and did not think it wise to penalise erring officers and politicians. It is a established culture in all offices to protect corrupt and to torture honest officers and whistle blowers so that an artificial peace and bright image is built in public domain.



It is CAs who teach lesson on saving and evading income tax and other tax liabilities to business houses and help them in creation of black money. Not only this , it is CAs who play a role of middle man among IT officials, bank officials, business houses and government officials for hassle free completion of a task. There is no doubt that every government department and every bank or insurance company or PSU take help of these CAs in preparation of false picture of the company or department.


Auditors say that they are poorly paid and their selection depends on whims of top officials of the bank and hence they have to act as per whims and fancies of bank management. IN the month of April and May , each audit team is busy in blackmailing with top officials of banks they are entrusted the duty of auditing and certifying the correctness of their financial papers including classification of assets, recognition of bad debts and calculation of profits.


When auditors are exposed , then Auditors make excuses that bankers do not show all books and papers or they are not given adequate time to audit. They use to take a false undertaking from bank officials to save their own skin in case of an unfortunate exposure of their evil works. In turn bank officials always remain ready with bouquet of flowers and spread red carpet for auditors and they are ready to spend any amount of money to keep auditors in good stream and to get their ill-motivated target achieved.


You will find that at head office of each bank, the game of bargaining is going on these days between team of auditors and team of bankers. And it happens every year in the month of April and May when auditors are purchased by bank officials so that their evil works are not exposed and their balance sheet shines as usual .


When we talk of vigilence officials or CBI officers posted in the department of CVC or CBI, they are either the same retired or unretired bank officials or persons who do not understand even ABC of banking activities. These important departments too complain of inadequate staff or inadequate time or lacking in quality staff. Even judiciary is victim of shortage of quality judges and short of adequate staff and this is why justice is delayed in courts too. Justice delayed is justice denied. Similarly all CAs and clever officers help in delaying exposure of sins of officials of a government body or promoters of a company for years and decades.


There is vicious circle of corrupt officials in each wing, banks, audit team, RBI, GOI, CBI and CVC. And each office has a gang of corrupt and clever officials who join links with various channels to secure success in getting attractive figure and in getting rid of penal actions. CBI officers and vigilence officers can be bought easily because they too are birds of same feather. All play role in protecting each other and not at all in protecting the institute they are supposed to serve loyally and devotedly.


In banks, only officers who are master in manipulation of figures, who are master in window dressing, who can furnish false and concocted certificates , who can manage auditors and vigilence officers are called clever and fittest officer eligible for promotion. This is why entire team from bottom to top act in tune with each other. Any officer who does not fall in line with this evil culture is thrown out and posted at the most critical place and tortured by frequent transfers or rejection in promotion processes. This is why a culture of flattery and bribery has taken roots in majority of offices.


In banks , officers who can deliver a good speech become popular and blue eyed boy for their bosses and soon chosen for important post and quickest elevation in career. Banks are run by manipulators. They manipulate IAS officers and pay handsome money in fetching deposits from them from various departments . They manage business houses and teach them how to avail loan and how to get rid of it. They know how to conceal bad loan under the wrap of standard assets and they know the art of getting a certificate of good health from Team of CAs each time . Chartered Accountants (CAs) help each of them in preparation of attractive and suitable papers and documents for sanction of loan to a company.


That is why I am not astonished that figure of write off submitted by individual banks and that by RBI do not match. Officers in general trust on figures furnished on their table by a team of Yesman . In all offices , almost same culture prevails. Evil works are exposed and come in public domain only when a rigid officer like Ashok Khemka who is honest and intelligent from toe to head stick to his gun and reveal the entire truth.


Only then media men get opportunity to write on it or to conduct debates on their TV channels. Lastly these media men start the game of blackmailing , they decide whom to expose , whom to provide coverage and whom to exonerate completely. They sit on chair of judge, jury and executors. Readers of newspapers and viewers of debates on TV are thus misguided and misinformed. True picture seldom emerges and very rarely it comes in the eyes of common men. In our country terrorists like Ishrat is proved innocent and given a certificate of honesty whereas persons of outstanding record of good performance is put in jail.


Lastly , a new culture has developed in each department. RBI officers and ministers say that if penal action is taken against erring bank officials, bankers will avoid lending and cause bigger damage to the country . As such they allow crime to be committed and perpetuated to maintain positivity in banks. It is easy to victimize persons like Ashok Khemka.


Actions are not proposed against auditors because if they are tortured, CAs will become jobless and students will not choose a course of CA as career.


Administrative officers and legal officers who play foul game with the system to earn illegal money are also not taken to task, because it is they who save politicians on many occasions and it is they who help them in earning illegal money and accumulation of wealth. As such politicians do not like to make these officials hostile to them. Politicians also keep silence on all evil matters because it helps them in building castles of progress in air. And so on. Even stock market is managed by manipulators and speculators to cheat innocent investors. There is an old proverb, birds of same feather flock together.

It is always easy to remove good officers and torture loyal officers so that evil works of evil officials are not exposed. This is why in our country good officers think it always wise to remain silent spectator of ongoing frauds and bad officers go on getting elevation after elevation . Crime grows and honesty is penalised . Old proverb , Honesty is the best policy no more holds good. In modern era , dishonesty, flattery and bribery are only keys to success


I do ot want to make comments on judiciary, because Chief Justice of Supreme Court has also highlighted the pathetic position of Indian courts and became emotional during a speech when PM Mr. Modi was also sitting adjascent to him.


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