‘CAG will audit private companies, PPPs having revenue sharing pact’

Dismayed over corporate tycoons who are accused of making fortunes by ‘rent seeking’, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Shashi Kant Sharma on Tuesday made it ‘very clear’ that they will continue to audit private firms and Private Public Partnership (PPP) projects where government is involved in terms of revenue sharing.

Speaking at the inaugural address of 8th annual summit on ‘Corporate Frauds – Risks and Prevention under Changing Paradigm’ at a city hotel, Sharma while stating that they are already working on telecom audit, said, ‘I am hopeful that our first report would be ready at the end of this year.’

He said, ‘Also, a report on gas and oil exploration will be presented in the Parliament soon and we will be taking up performance audit of some ongoing PPP projects shortly.’

On the context of allegation against CAG audit and its functioning which could led to discouragement to investors, he questioned, ‘Why should companies fear such audit if they have nothing to hide. In a mature market economy, where there is very little scope for manipulations and fudging they should not fear of such move.’

Raising concern over the ‘rent seekers’, which mean using public resources for economic gain without reciprocating any benefits back to society, the CAG chief said, ‘Many of the corporate tycoons, throughout the emerging economies, are today accused of making fortunes by rent seeking.’

Vigilance Commissioner JM Garg, who was also present on the occasion, said that CAG, CBI and CVC are not responsible for policy paralysis in the country. While expressing sorrow over criticism of the three agencies during, he said, ‘Three Cs — CAG, CBI and CVC — are representative together. People don’t invite us together. They are taken in the absolutely negative sense and people say that perhaps they are the ones causing policy paralysis in this country. Let me tell you this that it is not so.’