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New Delhi, Jan. 10 Corporate frauds such as the one at Satyam would be an extremely rare incidence in organisations that have trade unions and officers associations because they perform the crucial role of whistle blower, according to senior officials in the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.

“The officers’ associations and workers unions ensure information dissemination and thereby any wrong doings could be detected early. It cannot continue for years together as it is being claimed by Satyam,” a senior CAG official said.

The CAG receives a large number of letters, often anonymous, about irregularities in various public sector undertakings.

“Many of them prove to be correct,” the official said.

Particularly in the banking sector, another services sector like information technology, many frauds have been exposed and could be nipped at the bud because of proactive trade unions, he pointed out.

According to Mr Gurudas Dasgupta, CPI leader and the General Secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) that controls the largest banking unions in the country (AIBEA and AIBOC), “trade unions prevent irregularities by exposing them”.

In the case of the banking sector, Mr Dasgupta, pointed out that the presence of a strong trade union movement has exposed fraud and malpractices, and has injected transparency.

“The banking unions have been able to go to the extent of compelling the managements to bring to light the most confidential unpublished lists of defaulters,” he said.

“The absence of trade unions in the IT sector gives an opportunity to the management to rule over the business the way they want. But a comparison of banking and the IT sector, both offers services, gives ample proof that trade unions have a positive role in correcting the imbalances in the system,” Mr Dasgupta said.

More Stories on : Economic Offences | Trade & Labour Unions | Regulatory Bodies & Rulings

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