December 2022 | SPECIAL REPORT: WHITE-COLLAR CRIME
Financier Worldwide Magazine
More often than not, internal workplace investigations into financial misappropriation and fraud are precipitated by system or process gaps or by integrity issues. What this means is that defaults are likely to be caused by either progress gaps that result in or allow errors (and consequently value leakages), or misuse of these system gaps through acts of misfeasance. While this scenario remains true globally, each jurisdiction will have its set of unique vulnerabilities, such as cultural, organisational and procedural characteristics – something which every investigation team must account for.
In India, we have seen management structures and a lack of control systems significantly influence exploitation of vulnerabilities. For example, several family-owned and relatively traditional companies in India have a rigid organisational hierarchy and top-down management structure. In such cases, the reporting mechanism is so rigid, and the sense of loyalty (whether misplaced or otherwise) is so strong, that employees are hesitant (or fearful) to deviate from orders coming down the chain (often following such orders religiously and without any independent analysis or judgement) or to report grievances or gaps that they have come across in their general course of work to anyone in the organisation. They may at times report this to their superior, but that individual may have a vested interest in...
PICKENS, S.C. — Pickens city councilmembers determined Mayor Isaiah Scipio acted out of procedure following a tense executive session on Tuesday, while leaving ongoing disputes concerning SLED and...