INDIA’S BIGGEST ANTI-FRAUD CONFERENCE OF THE YEAR ORGANIZED IN MUMBAI
Mumbai, June 13,
2008: Friday the 13th
is considered inauspicious in many cultures and countries, often due to
irrational superstition. However, this very day of this year has proved
to be a red-letter day in the history of the anti-fraud movement in
India, with over a hundred anti-fraud professionals gathering to meet,
network and share knowledge amongst themselves on the latest anti-fraud
strategies. Organized by Indiaforensic, a leading provider of
anti-fraud education, training and consultancy, the event attracted the
best minds in the anti-fraud profession with speakers from premier
organizations like First Advantage, LabSystems, Saraansh Software, Ernst
& Young, HSBC, Barclays Bank, Fullerton India, TATA-AIG, and KCPL.
The
speakers amongst themselves covered a very large section of the
anti-fraud areas. The highlights of the event included the role of
technology in combating the various frauds. In this context, Mr. S
Venkatesan, MD of Labsystems Pvt. Ltd. spoke about the role of Computer
Forensics in the investigations carried out. He gave several examples of
how the forensic tool has been critical in the investigations. Narrating
the example of a high profile case he and his team investigated,
Venkatesan said: “The CEO of the company, a management graduate from one
of the top management institutes in India, was suspected to be siphoning
off a large amount of company funds. The company was a publically-listed
one with turnover of over INR 100 Crore. The task was to identify the
extent of fraud that was taking place and also gather forensic evidence
in the case.” He then went on to explain how the computer forensic tool
was able to gather concrete evidence that eventually led to the
prosecution of the CEO.
The session on banking fraud risk
management taken up by Mr. Babu Jayendran, Advisor, Saraansh Systems
Pvt. Ltd. also dealt with the role of technology and how softwares can
be effectively used to do many things. Explaining the role of fuzzy
logic and real time neural networks, Mr. Jayendran informed the audience
how the Cross Fraud software from Saraansh protects from banking frauds
and is also used for Anti Money Laundering compliance. Crossfraud is a
comprehensive scaleable solution to the fraud problem faced by banks and
financial institutions. It provides high performance, real-time
protection against banking fraud, integrates across multiple core
banking solutions and is easy to deploy and administer.
The role
of technology was also highlighted by the keynote speaker of the event,
Christian Kammer, Senior Forensic Accountant with the Department of
Institutional Integrity, World Bank, Washington DC. He delivered the
keynote session at the conference, titled
the world bank's effort to
combat fraud and corruption -
the experience of forensic review and
Detailed Implementation Review in the Health Sector in India.
Christian Kammer was a core team
member that led forensic review into five major healthcare projects in
India worth $569 million – the biggest forensic review that World Bank
has ever done in India, called a Detailed Implementation Review. The
World Bank's Department of Institutional Integrity is mandated by the
World Bank Group to investigate allegations of fraud and corruption in
Bank Group operations as well as allegations of staff misconduct. The
department reports directly to the President of the World Bank and is
staffed by a multinational team including investigators, legal
specialists, forensic accountants, and others. Kammer explained about
the World Bank's experiences in these forensic reviews, the role of
technology and delivered several insights in dealing with procurement
frauds.
Another
interesting happening at the event was a formal release of the report on
Background Screening Trends. Giving a preview of the quarterly
‘Background Screening Trends – India’ inaugural report to be published
by First Advantage, Ashish Dehade, managing director (West Asia) of
First Advantage, said, “The advent of a truly global workforce,
complexity of multi-location operations and rapid technological advances
have led to an exponential increase in the risks associated with
candidate recruiting and contract staff/vendor hiring. All these aspects
reinforce the need and significance of background screening as a risk
mitigation strategy. Through our quarterly report, we have sought to
provide relevant, up-to-date and industry-wise background screening
statistics, which give an accurate portrayal of the hiring risks present
in today's workplace. Our aim is to continuously provide employers and
recruiters with data and tools that enable them to progressively improve
their risk mitigation strategies and benchmark those strategies against
industry standards.”
“India
lacks professionally certified anti-fraud professionals” – this was the
important message that Chairman of Indiaforensic Consultancy Services
delivered to the delegates. Giving a comparison of the statistics
between India and the US, Mr. Joshi said: “The US with a 1/3rd
population of India still has over 23000 certified anti-fraud
professionals, but India does not even have 300!” This clearly brings
into focus the need for certification in this field. Currently,
Indiaforensic is the only organization that offers such certifications
customized to the Indian fraud scenarios. The event also saw an award
ceremony wherein the anti-fraud professionals were recognized. This
years Indianveshan award was given to Chandrasekhar Gokhale, MD, Astute
Corp for pioneering outsourced fraud investigations function in India.
The
event, which was also a 'coming together' of the various professionals
in the anti-fraud industry from different backgrounds, such as Finance,
Fraud Control, Security, Business Controls, Law Enforcement, Internal
Audit etc. was held at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. The event was sponsored
by First Advantage, Labsystems and Saraansh Software.
