With the new minister of corporate affairs, Salman Khursheed taking charge, the ministry is buzzing with fresh hopes. In an interaction with FE?s Neha Pal, the minister shares his plans to re-structure the investigating agency, serious fraud investigation office (SFIO) by giving it more powers and wants?the Companies Bill to be in place as soon as possible. Excerpts:
What concept are you going to follow as the new minister of corporate affairs?
Protection and comfort of the investors particularly the small investors is very important . It?s essential to have a transparent system that looks after the interests of the aam-aadmi. The buzzwords for the government are transparency and accountability.
What are your future plans?
We are planning to restructure the investigation agency, Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), to give it more powers to deal with Satyam like corporate frauds in future. SFIO can deliver a quick trial and judgement if it has powers under the criminal procedures along with powers of seeking documents and evidence.
We are also planning to introduce an early warning system which will help the employees to pin-point any fraud which is happening in the organisation at an early stage. We?are also examining a report?which has been submitted to the ministry by one of its groups.?
How is the current status of the role of?MCA in the Satyam case?
The SFIO and CBI are taking up accountability issues in the Satyam matter. The SFIO has completed it investigation in the Satyam case and the ministry has asked the SFIO to initiate the prosecution proceedings against the guilty and put the whole process on the fast track.
What are the lessons that you have learnt from Satyam and what will you do to make sure that such kind of cases don’t happen in the future?
If one wrong case has happened then it doesn’t mean that such cases will keep recurring. We have learnt a lot from Satyam and will try that such a case doesn’t happen again. We have also been studying the reports on Satyam and after a thorough examination we might think of introducing some changes also.
When do you see the Companies Bill seeing the broad day light? Are you planning to introduce some changes in the new bill?
Companies Bill is our topmost priority?and we?will try to present it in front of the Lok Sabha as early as possible. There is a possibility that we might have changes in terms of the regulatory mechanism. The basic format has already gone through scrutiny so we will proceed with that.
How do you perceive the role of CCI?
The Competition Commission of India is in place and the appellate tribunal has also been set up. This will help in promoting a healthy competition in India as it has already started taking up cases and will clearly give a message that we have a fair system.
What steps would you take to promote corporate governance?
The ministry is planning to engage companies in a meaningful dialogue for corporate governance issues.
