Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Corporate Affairs

19-March-2012 17:25 IST

Corporate Frauds

26 cases of Corporate Frauds have been identified. The list of these 26 cases is enclosed as Annexure ‘A’;

Multi-national audit firms are regulated as per the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 and the Chartered Accountants (Procedure of Investigations of Professional and other Misconduct and Conduct of Cases) Rules, 2007 and the Regulations framed thereunder. There is no bar under the Companies Act and the Chartered Accountants Act for such organizations to take up investigations of frauds on specific requests of the clients.

This information was given by the the Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs Shri R.P.N. Singh in Rajya SAbha today in reply to a written question whether Government has been seized of the growing instances of commitment of breach of trust and frauds being committed in the corporate entities by individuals at the top management; if so, the details of such cases brought under SFIO during the last five years;whether Government has also been seized of the fact that several multi-national audit-cum-consultancy firms have set up separate arms for carrying out business of fraud investigation under the garb of investigative audit, etc; and the details of extant rules which regulate such businesses of multi-national audit firms in the country?

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Regulation of multinational audit firms remains under chartered accountancy laws, permitting client-requested fraud investigations following identification of corporate fraud cases. Multinational audit and consultancy firms operating in India are subject to the regulatory regime governing chartered accountants and professional conduct rules, and there is no bar under company or chartered accountancy law preventing such firms from conducting fraud investigations at clients' specific request.