Opinion Undo and redo

Breach of trust

• This refers to the editorial ‘Company to keep’. Satyam’s fraudulent manipulation of balance sheets,especially in this economic crisis,will shatter investor confidence. But Ramalinga Raju’s confession also underlines how professional and ethical breaches victimise the ignorant small investor. We have no safeguards to protect shareholders. Nor do we have a mechanism to swiftly,visibly and correctly punish the guilty. Economic offenders have the money,and therefore the power,to manipulate retributive action against them. But developed countries,that have innumerably more and bigger corporate scams,also have the system and the will to punish the guilty when they are caught. Enron is indeed a lesson for India.

— Ved Guliani Hisar

Way to do it

• The magnitude of the Satyam fraud is shocking. It is a known secret that big business houses manage the certification of their balance sheets by their auditors. This problem can be fixed by a strict and compulsory audit by Sebi. Just as the CAG ‘s commercial audit wings do a superimposed audit of PSUs ,Sebi,as custodian of shareholders’ interests,should also do a superimposed audit of corporate accounts through its certified agencies. Corporate houses should be compelled to publish their detailed financial results with this added certification. There is much to learn from the Enron affair and the Congressional hearing on the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

— V.N. Ramachandran

Vadodara

Pakistan’s folly

• Pakistan’s credibility has never hit so low. It may happen that India will soon not be able to say who is more credible: the Pakistani president,the PM,the foreign minister or the information minister. M.A. Durrani,perhaps,could not contain himself and blurted out the truth about Kasab’s identity. Sacking him makes the Pakistani establishment look even sillier and sorrier. It’s good that India’s dossier is sending tremors down the Pakistani establishment’s spine.

— Prasad Malladi

Nidadavole