Planned leaks of major reports do investigators little credit. This also applies to the current Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the 2G scam. The estimated loss of Rs 1.75 lakh crore owing to the scam is only presumptive, and comes after the leak has done its avoidable damage.
In essence, the CAG is a typical file-based government auditing agency. It stresses on reporting deviations from set procedures and policies and fails to recognise that the deviations have resulted in speeding up economic growth. The projection of probable licensing value, juxtaposing different genres of spectrum technologies, tenuous professional knowledge on the market dynamics for the 2G in particular and the industry in general, have resulted in the ballpark estimate of a “notional loss”.
For the audit to be relevant, it needs to keep pace with today’s knowledge and technology. It can then be a real tool in the hands of the government. The 2008-09 collapse of the US economy was largely due to bundling of doubtful home loan mortgages into tradeable securities, and even auditors and regulators had little clue about it. The detective has to be one step ahead in criminal knowledge than criminality itself. Clearly, now there is a case for upgrading the science of auditing and a 9 per cent plus economy puts a heavy premium on time within which to do it.
R Narayanan, Ghaziabad
