The bank has discovered that Nadeem Kashmiri, who caused them a loss of almost Rs2 crore, had been fired by another company within 20 days of joining.
BANGALORE: It was a lapse that HSBC India made in a hurry and is regretting at leisure. The bank has discovered that Nadeem Kashmiri, the employee who leaked personal data of 20 UK customers and caused them a loss of almost Rs2 crore, had been fired by another company within 20 days of joining.
HSBC has found that the certificates on the basis of which Kashmiri was hired were fake. He had been given the marching orders by outsourcing firm Accenture for this very reason, but he got away scot-free with this deception at nearby HSBC.
The use of fake certificates and recommendations in job applications is old hat. But with increasing pressure on IT service and BPO firms to rapidly recruit the numbers to feed their growth and stay ahead of the competition, thorough background checks have become a casualty.
“Kashmiri used fake mark sheets to apply for a job at Accenture that required a bachelor’s degree. But he was caught soon,” Sanjay Vir Singh, DIG, economic offences, Corps of Detectives, told DNA on Thursday.
Accenture officials were unavailable for comment. An HSBC spokesperson refused comment saying the matter is under investigation.
HSBC suffered because there was no background check on Kashmiri. But industry insiders say that even when there are checks, they just aren’t effective. “Many industries conduct checks simultaneously with the employee’s joining. This leaves open a window of time in which a fraud can happen,” said one. And when the person joining is a fresher, the check is limited to qualifications.
Even if there is a background check, a person with no past criminal record can also breach security," said Yogesh Bhura, South Asia managing director for First Advantage Quest Research, a global pre-employment background screening services firm. Kashmiri is a case in point.
First Advantage estimates that about 13 per cent of people who apply for jobs claim false educational and work experience, an average seen in other countries as well.
There are other problems. "Currently, a background check takes about six weeks," said BS Murthy, CEO of Human Capital, an HR firm.
This problem, he said, could be solved if universities put details of marks on a centralised database and charge firms to verify online. "They can earn money and the time taken for verification can be reduced," he said.
Gautam Sinha, CEO of TVA Infotech, said, "Companies should share data on the people blacklisted so that a clear message is sent to all those who adopt malpractices."
NASSCOM is building a national skill registry for IT employees to create a database of employees that employers can access. But till these steps are implemented, experts advise firms to strengthen their own security systems, especially in the absence of a data protection law.
"Companies should adopt best security practices and have preventive measures keeping in mind the absence of a data protection act," said cyber law expert Pavan Duggal.
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