Thursday, December 13, 2012

SOUTH KOREAN CHAEBOLS: FRADULENT ACTS


They ignored the potential of ‘Clean capitalism’ ; they were wrong...

And so were the thieves caught, one after another. In 2000, the much discussed multi-billion Chaebol-cheat Daewoo, collapsed! Getting cheap credits from banks was never an issue, and Daewoo used this to snap up companies… [It’s not very known that founder & former CEO of Daewoo, Kim Woo-choong’s father had been dictator Park Chung Hee’s teacher.] The company cut several secret deals with the government to bail out his shipbuilding unit and it is also believed that during 1997-98, Kim masterminded Asia’s biggest accounting fraud that inflated Daewoo’s stock by $32 billion! Ultimately, post-Daewoo, he fled... 

Three years later, another Chaebol, SK Global’s accounting scandal erupted! SK Global, the sister firm of South Korea’s largest oil refiner, SK Corp, was involved in two cases – one, an accounting fraud (profits of FY 2001 were inflated by $1.25 billion), and two, for funnelling funds during the 2002 presidential elections. Weeks later, SK Corp’s Chairman Chey Tae-won – the eldest son of the group’s founding family and son-in-law of a former President of South Korea – was sentenced to 3 years in prison. 

After a break of 3 more years, more worms wriggled out of the can… and this time, it was Chung Mong-koo, Chairman of South Korea’s largest automaker, Hyundai Motor Co., who was arrested on charges of embezzling company funds to create a $105 million slush fund in order to clandestinely bribe government officials. [Did you know that the current South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak, had worked in Hyundai for 27 years and was its Chairman & CEO when he quit to enter politics?]. February 2008 saw more action in this regard – only this time it was the turn of the largest Chaebol, Samsung Electronics. Chairman Lee Kun-hee, alongwith his son, Lee Jae-yong resigned amidst allegations of financial irregularities and charges of hiding slush funds (a whopping $4.5 billion, used to bribe government officials). On July 26, 2008, Lee Kun was fined $109 million & sentenced to 3 years of suspended jail term… 


 Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.


Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, December 10, 2012

Alright, Hallelujah! What next?

How religious leaders can help the world for its betterment

A close scrutiny exemplifies the fact that be it the Pope in Christianity or Dalai Lama in Buddhism, Rabbis in Judaism or Imams in Islam, religious leaders do all have implicit and explicit influences in the lives of even non-devotees.

To start off with, Pope Benedict XVI. Given the current global scenario, each of the Pope’s visits, addresses to the common people, official statements marks history. For instance, his mind-boggling address to the youths of Germany, inter-faith talks with Jews and Muslims and many other similar visits to Brazil, Austria, Poland, Spain, Turkey and the US have been overwhelmingly successful in garnering more international attention than his religious designation should warrant.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Constructive destruction!!!

Don’t play against nature, it will surely bite you back later...

The waiting game on embryonic stem cell research is almost over with Obama signing the bill to allow state funding of it. But the debate isn’t yet over. It was during the Clinton regime that the concept of Stem cell research took shape for the first time. Abortion was legalised and UK’s successful experiment with in vitro fertilisation inspired scientists in the US. Hence the Human Embryo Research Panel of the National Institute of Health approached President Bill Clinton to allow state funding but considering the moral and ethical concerns, he refused it. Later Bush faced similar predicaments but reacted more strongly than Clinton. In spite of unanimous support in the Congress in favour of it, he used his veto power thrice to stop it. He strategically defended his decision by stating, ‘the bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others. It crosses the moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect. So, vetoed it.’


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, December 7, 2012

Split left, right & centre!

CPI (M) is caught in an unsavoury fight over corruption in Kerala

Ghosts of a major scam have come to haunt the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala. Party’s state chief Pinarayi Vijayan is accused of financial misconduct in the Rs.3.33 billion contract awarded to a Canadian firm SNC Lavlin to upgrade the state’s three hydro-electric power stations during his tenure as Energy Minister of Kerala 12 years ago. The case was handed over to the CBI on orders of the Kerala High Court and the incumbent CM VS Achutanandan, known for his clean and uncompromising image, has sanctioned the prosecution of his party colleague, Vijayan. It is no secret that the two leaders have been at logger heads for a long time – so much so that both had been suspended from CPI(M)’s apex policy making body, the politburo last year. The latest controversy hasn’t helped the party’s cause a bit. The issue has vertically divided the party with Achutanandan claiming to fight corruption at every level and Vijayan claiming to be a victim of political conspiracy.

Things got so hot that the CPI(M) secretary general Prakash Karat himself had to broker a truce – with polit buro ratifying Vijayan’s conspiracy theory while issuing gang orders on Achutanandan. Citing CBI’s stringent indictment by the Supreme Court for frequently changing stance in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s disproportionate assets (DA) case, Karat said, “The Central government is fabricating a case against Vijayan only as a vendetta against our decision to withdraw support to it in wake of Indo-US nuclear deal. Looks like, the government hasn’t learnt from the court’s strictures against it in the Mulayam Singh case”.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thursday, December 6, 2012

A winner on every pitch

'Diggi Raja' has attained an enviable political stature, and has kept his feet firmly on the ground

Once an opener and wicket-keeper in his college team, 'Diggi Raja' or Digvijay Singh can’t help but compare politics with cricket. In fact, he feels that both have uncanny resemblance in their characteristics. Diggi Raja was once heard saying that politics was like batting, where a batsman must learn to tackle beamers in order to score. Also, like batsman, politicians need immense patience to wait for the right occasion to strike and when the moment comes, make some quick decisions. We can’t agree more.

Digvijay Singh joined politics when he had barely crossed his teens. He ruled India’s then largest state, Madhya Pradesh for close to a decade – 1993 to 2003 – and when he lost the elections in 2003, he put on a very brave face, something so uncommon in Indian political class, and decided not to contest elections for the next 10 years. He was inducted in the core group of the party and assigned the post of General Secretary. His profile changed forever. Now, like his peer Ahmad Patel, he has become the eyes and ears of not only Rahul Gandhi, but of the party high-command itself. For example, in a recent meeting, he opined that the party should promote youngsters for seats that it considers “tough ones”. The idea struck a chord where it mattered the most: Rahul Gandhi.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Barack Obama’s election could mean for business

People have been overwhelmed by his victory but business leaders are guarded in optimism. Virat Bahri & Pallavi Srivastava of B&E analyse what Barack Obama’s election could mean for business

his business voice

So far, Obama’s egalitarian stance on various issues facing the economy hasn’t exactly kept him in the good books of business. It is well evident from his statement, “We cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.” His focus seems to be more bottom up; first the people and then the big fish; i.e. businesses. Obviously, that is not what corporate leaders would appreciate. Thomas J. Donohue, President and CEO, US Chamber of Commerce, which represents over 3 million businesses, commented on what he felt should be Obama’s priorities, “Restoring the nation’s economic health must be our top priority. Any successful and sustainable recovery will involve the business sector, which creates the jobs, the growth, and the revenues on which all Americans and our government depend.” His mandate was: Get economy and business on its feet first; and then we can take care of controversial issues. One of them is the Employer’s Free Choice Act, which takes away an employer’s rights over a secret ballot to decide whether workers may form unions. He has also talked about reforming bankruptcy laws to protect employees and to ban executive pay for executives of such companies.

In particular, the issue of CEO compensation has been a thorn in the flesh. The US President elect has clearly given the top honchos of big American businesses nightmares with his backing of the ‘Say-on-pay’ bill which will give shareholders a nonbinding proxy vote on executive pay. It is believed that Say-on-pay will become a legislation within first 100 days of Obama’s administration. Now that clearly is bad news for the big guys but Anjan Roy, Economic Advisor, FICCI argues, “If Lehman Brothers is falling apart, why can’t shareholders decide to cut on the exorbitant expenses on CEO pays. It will only be good for business.” Well, a CEO does hate to see his company go down; and if his cheque follows suit, you can imagine his plight!

The new President elect has also suggested supporting small businesses by offering more lending for them and cutting taxes. For the corporate sector on the whole, the plan is to cut tax rate to below 35% and act stringently to broaden the corporate tax base & reduce loopholes; like special interest loopholes for large companies as well as wealthy individuals. He is also advocating removing tax cuts for oil companies. He has anyway repeatedly lamented America’s reliance on Middle East oil; and the need to bring in a new ‘alternative’ energy economy. So oil companies may see their ‘windfall’ profits getting threatened.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.



Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, December 3, 2012

These clouds have no silver lining

As dark clouds ominously hang low over most of Asia, environmentalists are urging nations to transform into low-carbon economies...

In the words of William Ruckelshaus, “nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.” If not judiciously used, it stands to change the ABCs of our very lives. In the present day scenario, the elements threatening to play havoc with our lives are the ABCs in our environment. Atmospheric Brown Clouds (ABCs) are expanding and assuming alarming proportions these days. These Atmospheric Brown Clouds are hovering over Asia and have been blocking out the sun and are aggravating the climatic imbalance brought on by the greenhouse effect. A noxious concoction of soot, smog and toxic chemicals has played havoc with the health of over a million in Asia, according to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports, and has altered the weather patterns in Arabian Peninsula, China and around the western Pacific Ocean. The three-kilometer thick ‘brown cloud’ of man-made pollution has had an immediate effect on the Himalayan-Hindu Kush glaciers, causing the ice-caps to melt.

Often termed as regional haze, these Atmospheric Brown Clouds have become the newest threat to global environment. The environmentalists believe that these brown clouds are caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels and biomass, and ejections from motor vehicles and thermal plants. Nick Nuttall, Spokesperson to the Executive Director, UNEP, also adds that “if these gases are combined with other harmful emissions like C02, methane and other greenhouse gases, it would lead to further complexities.”


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, December 1, 2012

PORSCHE: VOLKSWAGEN STOCK OPTIONS

Porsche has made a whopping $8.7 billion by selling VW options; but may have to give up ownership bid

The market is rife with allegations of Porsche misusing loopholes in German laws.

Now, Porsche is seeking an overturn of a German ruling that gives the state of Lower Saxony special status. Evidently, Porsche is looking for management control; which would enable it to alter Volkswagen's structure & gain full access to its books. But the State of Lower Saxony has voting rights (as a 20% plus shareholder, thanks to the ruling) it doesn't want to give away. Porsche is trying to take the case to EU court, which might be stalled at the court in Hanover. Sal Oppenheim’s Christian Breitsprecher asserts, “The sensible thing (for Porsche) would be to sell a part of their holding and cash-in on this opportunity by settling down for a 60-65% holding in the company.” In fact, VW's options have proved very positive for Porsche, as the latter has made a cool $8.7 billion by selling 5% of VW options on October 29. So if the legal tangle gets too complicated, that seems to be the best track for Porsche – take the VW stake as an investment; and give up claims to acquiring them; unless it finds another loophole in German law!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)