Special govt wing to detect Satyam repeat

In order to prevent recurrence of Satyam-like fraud, the government has decided to set up a specialised research and analysis wing to scrutinise media reports, corporate press releases and advertisements which can have a bearing on share prices of companies.

One of the important tasks of the Market Research and Analysis Unit (MRAU), to be set up within the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), would be to provide early signals of corporate wrong doings to the government, a senior official of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs said.

The new unit, official said, would work in close coordination with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the Enforcement Directorate, the Income Tax Department and the Reserve Bank of India.

“Media reports aimed at inflating share prices of companies or those suggesting siphoning of funds by promoters through stake sale would be a good fodder for us to keep an eye on those entities,” the official said.

The idea behind setting up of MRAU, the official said, “is not to monitor frauds, but to set up a risk management system to catch early signals and take preventive action”.

The decision to set up a specialised unit to prevent frauds was prompted by multi-crore rupee Satyam scam which continued for years.