Corporate fraudsters are getting caught red-handed in ever greater numbers in the Gulf through tighter oversight and the pressures of the financial crisis, according to a survey from Deloitte Corporate Finance.
More than a third of executives in the region reported at least one instance of fraud during the past year, the web-based survey found. Of those, 14 per cent were valued at more than US$1 million (Dh3.6m) and 7 per cent at more than $10m.
The high incidence of fraud may be linked to stepped-up efforts to detect and prosecute it, rather than an actual increase in fraudulent activity, lawyers and fraud investigators said. "People are more willing to take action now," said Stephen Millington, who heads financial investigations in the Middle East for Kroll, a corporate investigations company. "Before, a fraud may have happened but it was resolved quietly and in-house, whereas now shareholders and boards are acting."
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