When boom spells doom

Fake certificates, inflated salaries and designations, wrong claims about previous projects…the big boys in the boardroom are using them all to climb the corporate ladder, often at the company’s cost.

Top (C-level) executives, including board directors and vice presidents, were responsible for 42 per cent of all frauds committed, revealed a survey conducted by India operations of KPMG Forensic late last year.

Moreover, about 85 per cent of educational discrepancies were related to submitting fake certificates and 42 per cent of employment discrepancies were about inflating tenures.

Frauds in white-collar professions have increased by 54 per cent from 2006, revealed the India Fraud Survey Report 2008 by KPMG Forensic.

The study surveyed 250 companies and the problem seems to be spreading across industries. Restricted so far to the financial sector and infotech enables services, it has now spread to sectors like retail, real estate and insurance.

Everything including a passport, a mark sheet or even a salary slip is now being checked. Many former servicemen are playing the watchdog.

“Ex-defence personnel are now an integral part of this industry. Earlier, only background verification cells in regional passport offices used to hire the services of these companies,” said Pandia Rajan, managing director, Ma Foi Consultants.

Real estate is now the second most vulnerable to lying employees after financial services. “Considering the boom projected in the insurance and retail sectors, they are very susceptible,” said Rohit Mahajan, executive director, KPMG Forensic.