The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Doha chapter, recently organised a seminar on Corporate Frauds and Corporate Governance.

The keynote speaker for the event was T N Manoharan, past president of ICAI, worlds second largest accounting body. Doha Bank Group CEO R Seetharaman outlined a global perspective for the topic.

All of us are aware of the corporate frauds, be it those of the West or the East. This is no exception for any regions including those where the corporate governance principles are expected to get strict compliance, said ICAI Doha Chapter chairman Kurian Kuriakose.

Manoharan spoke of multiple failures on the part of the regulators, auditors and financiers in detecting a massive fraud at Satyam Computer Services in India.

The companys founder Ramalinga Raju disclosed in January 2009 he overstated assets by more than $1bn.  This was possible because the fraud was carefully planned by a few individuals at the helm of affairs at Satyam, Manoharan said.

More regulations as it happened in the case of Western worlds response to corporate frauds did not seem to be the answer, he said, adding dedicated employees, prudent government intervention and strong customer base were the main reasons for the survival of Satyam.

Hatim Hussain, ICAI Doha Chapter executive committee member opened the meeting and secretary Venkat Ramamurthy proposed the vote of thanks. Qtel and RasGas are the annual support sponsors for the Chapter activities.