Tangled ✓

Fraud in the company

~~Jaiveer~~

Due to the delay in flight, it was late in the morning by the time we reached home and as soon as I reached home, Papa had summoned me to the office stating that it was urgent. The atmosphere at the office looks normal but when I stepped into the meeting room… It looks thick. I thought the situation was something light but no because it's Badepapa, Papa, Neeraj Bhai, Dhiraj and all the key persons of our branches and the companies that were under our control are assembled in the meeting room. It seems like everyone is waiting for me. Excusing myself, I stepped inside. 

“Have a seat, Jai.” Badepapa, who sat at the centre of the table, sort of ordered. Nodding at everyone, I sat beside Neeraj Bhai. 

“I'll come straight to the point.” Badepapa started, “The thing is …. Our auditor's have pointed out certain transactions which they found unusual.”

“Unusual?” Someone pointed out. Bade papa nodded signalling us to open the files that were placed in front of us. 

“As in what?” Another one asked. 

“Fake suppliers. Fake customers. Fake bills. Embezzlement of cash and stock.”

The entire meeting room turned into silence. Drop dead silence. Everyone of us who grabbed the files froze. 

Papa continued, “Loopholes in the agreements with our customers and suppliers. Degradation in the quality of our products.” 

“Degradation in quality? How can that happen?” One of the members pointed out, “We are getting our products checked with the quality standards board.”

Badepapa nodded, “Apparently, auditor's have got them checked with their experts.”

“Where in? In which branch?” Someone asked. 

“In all our departments. All our branches, subsidiaries, associates…. Every damn company that is under our control.” Badepapa hissed and it resonated in the now silent room.  

“Papa, let me get this straight.” Neeraj Bhai cleared his throat, “You mean to say that in each and everyone of our companies… unusual things are happening.”

“Yes.” Badepapa turned to everyone, “Our auditors have confirmed that we are making payments to certain fake suppliers. Sending stock to certain fake customers. There are loopholes in our agreements which if were to be exploited leads to a huge loss of funds and reputation to the company. Also theft of cash and stock.”

“Raghuram, wait a minute.” Someone stopped him, “What do you mean by fake suppliers and fake customers? As in… how can that be possible? We will sign agreements with our customers and suppliers only after digging into their background and also visiting their premises and negotiating with their key persons. Then how can we have fake ones?”

“Can it be the case of where their businesses were closed after we signed an agreement with them?” I asked out because in the past I have noticed one of these cases which thankfully we resolved immediately.

“It might be but don't we keep on a regular track of them? Then how will it be possible?”

“And what is the case of loopholes in agreements? What the hell is our legal team doing?”

“And embezzlement of cash and stock? Aren't they being checked on a daily basis and are held with a custodian?”

One after the other everyone kept on posing the questions and the entire meeting room blared with the discussions. I took up the file that was placed in front of me and started going through the documents. The IT department is not involved with cash and stock. Coming to suppliers and customers, there are certain agreements which we have entered into. All the agreements were thoroughly checked by me and also by our legal team. Only after making sure that an agreement is air tight from all the points, will it be signed by both the parties. Then how come there can be any issues?