Shobit Chakraborty

BBA(H)
Institute of International
Trade

A PROJECT REPORT ON
WHISTLEBLOWING
BY
SHOBIT CHAKRABORTY
IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM IN BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION
INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE (247)
WEST BENGAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
KOLKATA
(2011-2014)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A project report is a golden opportunity for learning and selfdevelopment. I consider myself very lucky and honored to have so
many wonderful people lead me through in completion of this
project.
Mrs.Arundhati Das Chatterjee, HR Department monitored
my progress and gave all the best necessary guidance who can
ever give to completion of this project. I choose this moment to
acknowledge her contribution gratefully.
Mr.Nilay Chatterjee whose patience I have probably tested
to the limit. He was always so involved in the entire process,
shared his knowledge, and encouraged me to think. Thank you,
Dear Sir.
I would like to thanks Dr.D.R Agarwal for his efforts and
help provided me to get such an excellent opportunity.
Last but not the least there were so many who shared
valuable information that helped in the successful completion of
this project.

Shobit Chakraborty
BBA 6th Semester

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The topic of this project is very interesting specially because in
India Whistleblowers are usually bushed down. To know who are
Whistleblowers and what do they do we need to understand
simply that it could be anyone who protests against a wrongdoing,
it could be you or me.
The main objectives of this project is to show the various
situations a Whistleblower has to face and what are the ultimate
outcomes for blowing the Whistle with the aid of research data
and case studies that would help one better understand not only
the situation of the world with regards to Whistleblowing but also
from the point of view of our very own country. This project looks
at Whistleblowing from three varied angles namely bullying,
harassment and fraud.
The findings show that in most of the cases
Whistleblowers have been punished or have been laid off from the
point of view of organization though there are also cases
discussed where the Whistleblower has been rewarded. But yet
that is not enough.
This project also tries to go to the ultimate depth with
regards to the topic and combines research data with case studies
to provide better understanding of aspects of all the various
industries for example Information Technology, Pharmacy etc. and

TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUBJECT
1. WHISTLEBLOWING
2. TYPES OF WRONGDOINGS
3. RAISING A CONCERN
4. GRIEVANCE MAY LEAD TO EXTERNAL WHISTLEBLOWING
5. WHISTLEBLOWERS POSITION
6. SAFETY AT WORKPLACE
7. POSITIONAL HIERARCHY AND WHISTLEBLOWING
8. WHISTLEBLOWING WHEN CO-WORKER IS WRONGDOER
9. WHISTLEBLOWING AND BULLYING
10. BULLYING: WHAT USUALLY HAPPENS
11. WHAT SHOULD ONE DO?
12. WHISTLEBLOWING AND HARRASSMENT
13. HARRASSMENT: INDIAN LAW AND GUIDELINES
14. WHISTLEBLOWINGS IMPACT
15. WHISTLEBLOWING AND FRAUD
16. TYPES OF FRAUD
17. CASE STUDIES
18. WIKILEAKS: WE LEAK SECRETS

1. WHISTLEBLOWING
A whistleblower (whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a
person who exposes misconduct, alleged dishonest or illegal
activity occurring in an organization. The alleged misconduct may
be classified in many ways; for example, a violation of a law, rule,
regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest, such as fraud,
health and safety violations, and corruption. Whistleblowers may
make their allegations internally (for example, to other people
within the accused organization) or externally (to regulators, law
enforcement agencies, to the media or to groups concerned with
the issues).
Whistleblower protections are provided in two important
areas:
Confidentiality: Insofar as possible, the confidentiality of the
whistleblower will be maintained. However, identity may have to
be disclosed to conduct a thorough investigation, to comply with
the law and to provide accused individuals their legal rights of
defense.
Retaliation: The Company will not retaliate against a
whistleblower. This includes, but is not limited to, protection from

STEPS IN WHISTLEBLOWING

TYPES OF WHISTLEBLOWING
INTERNAL: Most whistleblowers are internal
whistleblowers, who report misconduct on a fellow
employee or superior within their company.
One of the most interesting questions with respect to internal
whistleblowers is why and under what circumstances people
will either act on the spot to stop illegal and otherwise
unacceptable behavior or report it.
EXTERNAL: External whistleblowers, however, report
misconduct to outside persons or entities.
In these cases, depending on the information's severity and
nature, whistleblowers may report the misconduct to lawyers,
the media, law enforcement or watchdog agencies, or other
local, state, or federal agencies.
In some cases, external whistleblowing is encouraged by
offering monetary reward.

2. TYPES OF WRONGOINGS
In the process of whistleblowing there occur several types of
wrongdoings. A sample survey (N=1,000) shows ethical, financial
malpractice, work safety, public safety and patient safety as the
areas of major concern.

Ethical and financial concerns were the most common types of

malpractice followed closely by work safety. These concerns take
place across all industries, while concerns such as patient safety
or work safety are more sectors specific to health and social
care.
With regards to those who witness financial malpractice, they
may be likely to seek advice because of the serious implications
for the wrongdoer or organization if they raise a concern.
While ethical or financial concerns are the most statistically
common, on a sector by sector basis the number of concerns
about patient safety concerns remains very high considering it is

3. RAISING A CONCERN
We looked at the first four events in a whistleblower's journey,
which include where the whistleblower actually raises the
concern or expresses an intention to raise the concern. In 868
cases a concern was actually raised and in 132 cases an
intention to raise a concern was expressed. There were only
some cases when the whistleblower raised the concern more
than four times, however this was highly exceptional.

Most whistleblowers (44%) actually raise a concern only once,

however another 39% raised a concern twice. It is important to
note that while there is a large decrease from those who raise
a concern twice to those who raise a concern three or four
times
Whistleblowers' motivation decreases each time they are faced
with raising a concern. This is most obvious in the disparity
between those who raise a concern twice and those who raise
a concern three times. This shows that employers usually have

4. GRIEVANCE MAY LEAD TO EXTERNAL

WHISTLEBLOWING
A grievance procedure places the onus on an individual to prove
their complaint. A whistleblower is a witness, passing on
information to those with a responsibility to address the
problem. As such the grievance vehicle is unsuited to a
whistleblowing concern as a witness shouldnt have to prove
their concern.
If a concern is ignored or not addressed at an earlier stage
only the more tenacious individuals will pursue this, carrying a
risk for organizations if they fail to address the concern quickly
To mitigate the risk of missing an important warning,
organizations need to ensure strong lines of communication and
good training in line and middle management
The grievance procedure may be used for a number of
reasons, e.g. failure to investigate, a poor investigation, or
because the whistleblower is experiencing victimization.

5. WHISTLEBLOWERS POSITION
The position of the whistleblower can vary according to degree
of work. It can be basically categorized into the following:

Unskilled (e.g. careers, support workers, bartenders)

Administrative/clerical positions (e.g. office administrators,
secretaries, advisers)
Skilled (e.g. brokers, chefs, engineers)
Professionals (e.g. nurses, doctors, teachers, accountants)
Management (e.g. line managers, general managers)
Executive (e.g. board members, chair persons)
Unknown (e.g. scientist, researcher, specialists)

6. SAFETY AT WORKPLACE
According to study it has been seen that those who raised a work
safety concern were likely to be dismissed at first and second
attempt than those who raised other types of concern. Safety at
workplace can raise concern on varied areas like patient safety,
abuse in care, work safety, financial malpractice, ethical
malpractice. But we would take a look only at the following areas:
PATIENT SAFETY : Whistleblowers, who raised a patient safety
concern were more likely to suffer formal reprisal throughout the
journey and less likely to encounter informal reprisal than those
raising other types of wrongdoing.
ABUSE IN CARE : Those who raise a concern about abuse in
care were comparatively more likely to see their resources
blocked or suffer formal reprisal along the journey. However, these
whistleblowers were less likely to be dismissed.
WORK SAFETY : Those who raised a work safety concern were
more likely to be dismissed at first and second attempt than those
who raised other types of concern. Formal reprisal was also
experienced more at first attempt, while informal reprisal or

7. POSITIONAL HIERARCHY AND

WHISTLEBLOWING
In organizations where
whistleblowers encounter reprisal,
whistleblowers who are lower in the hierarchy tend to be
tolerated longer, while whistleblowers with a higher position tend
to be dismissed much earlier. This may be because they are
deemed more of a threat due to an expectation that they will do
more to expose the wrongdoing
RESPONSE FROM CO-WORKERS

We distinguished the following common responses from

colleagues:
Informal - where the whistleblower is bullied, harassed or
ostracized.
Formal - where the whistleblower has a formal accusation or a
grievance entered against them.
Support - where the whistleblower experiences support from
colleagues on a wider basis than raising the concern with others.

8. WHISTLEBLOWING WHEN CO-WORKER IS

WORNGDOER

The whistleblower is likely to suffer formal reprisal where the

wrongdoer is a co-worker and they are aware of the identity of
whistleblower. This could be a grievance for bullying or
harassment or counter allegation of some description.

If there are reprisals from co-workers, these are most likely to be

informal reprisals and they are most likely to happen when raising
a concern with the line manager or specialist channels.
Formal reprisal by co-workers seem most likely when a concern
is raised with higher management.
There was also some support from co-workers when raising a
concern with higher management.
As the whistleblowing path continues, formal reprisal from coworkers become more likely, and is most likely to come from coworkers when raising a concern with an independent body,
through a grievance, or to line management.

9. WHISTLEBLOWING AND BULLYING

Bullying currently has no legal definition, but is generally seen as
offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behavior, an abuse
or misuse of power through means intended to undermine or
injure the recipient in some way. Bullying is unwelcome and
unwarranted. In a workplace, it often takes place when a more
senior person is bullying someone in a more junior position
The act of bullying is defined by three main factors:
There must be intent by the bully to cause harm to the victim.
The behavior is repeated over time.
There exists an imbalance of power between the bully and the
bullied. Often bullies are stronger than their victims or they
perhaps hold a higher status among their peers

10. BULLYING WHAT USUALLY HAPPENS

The main reasons observed for being bullied are:
Being in the wrong place at the wrong time,
Being good at your job,
Being popular with people,
Unwittingly drawing attention to another person's incompetence
simply by being competent
Blowing the whistle on malpractice, fraud, illegality,
breaches of rules, regulations and procedures, or raising
health and safety issues,
Having a high level of integrity and emotional maturity

11. WHAT SHOULD ONE DO?

Dealing with bullying takes courage, especially because the bully
is often someone in a position of authority. But remember that
you have the right not to be bullied at work. If your employer is
treating you in a way you are unhappy with, or not giving you
what you are entitled to, don't suffer in silence
Top Tips for dealing with work problems:
If it is an ongoing problem like bullying or discrimination, keep a
diary. It's important to have a record of what's happening to you.
If you decide to talk to your employer directly, go through what
you are going to say with a friend first - try to stay calm and
polite so you don't lose control of the situation.
Don't delay in taking steps to deal with a problem, remember
there's usually a 3 month deadline for making a claim at an
employment tribunal.
If you decide to make a formal complaint, make sure you are
familiar with your employer's complaint procedures.

12. WHISTLEBLOWING AND HARASSMENT

Harassment generally means that someone is suffering because of
someone elses unwelcome conduct on grounds such as age, race,
gender, nationality or religion, which humiliates or demeans the
victim.Bullying and harassment is not only face to face, it can also
take place via emails, and other forms of communication.
Claims for bullying, harassment or victimization will be linked to
discriminatory grounds- such as sex or race.
In many cases workers will claim they are being victimized
because they have sought to assert their rights under
discrimination legislation.
But the right not to be victimized is wider than that and covers
workers who make claims for whistleblowing.

13. HARASSMENT INDIAN LAW AND GUIDELINE

According to the Press Information Bureau of the India. The
Act will ensure that women are protected against sexual
harassment at all the work places, be it in public or private. This
will contribute to realization of their right to gender equality, life
and liberty and equality in working conditions everywhere
The Act uses a definition of sexual harassment which was laid
down by the Supreme Court of India in Vishaka v. State of
Rajasthan (1997). Article 19 (1) g of the Indian Constitution
affirms the right of all citizens to be employed in any profession of
their choosing or to practice their own trade or business.
The case ruling establishes that sexual harassment violates a
woman's rights in the workplace and is thus not just a matter of
personal injury.
MAJOR FEATURES
The Act defines sexual harassment at the work place and
creates a mechanism for redressal of complaints. It also provides
safeguards against false or malicious charges.
The definition of aggrieved woman, who will get protection
under the Act is extremely wide to cover all women, irrespective

14. WHISTLEBLOWINGS IMPACT

Employers have a duty of care to provide a safe working
environment for their employees. The definition of safety extends
to emotional and psychological safety.
Companies that use whistleblowing services find they learn of
bullying and harassment behaviors earlier and can act to stamp
them out faster before the behaviors become out of control.
Naturally this is of great benefit to the victims but also provides
business owners with comfort as it limits their exposure to legal
and reputational risks including potentially hefty OHS fines and
now even significant prison sentences.

15. WHISTLEBLOWING AND FRAUD

Fraud is an act or course of deception, an intentional concealment,
omission, or perversion of truth, to
Gain unlawful or unfair advantage,
Induce another to part with some valuable item or surrender a
legal right, or
Inflict injury in some manner.

Willful fraud is a criminal offense which calls for severe penalties,

and its prosecution and punishment (like that of a murder) is not
bound by the statute of limitations. However incompetence or
negligence in managing a business or even a reckless waste of
firm's assets (by speculating on the stock market, for example)
does not normally constitute a fraud. In such cases, the aggrieved
party (creditors or stockholders/shareholders) must prove that at
some point they were intentionally deceived on a material fact.

16.TYPES OF FRAUD
Fraud is when trickery is used to gain a dishonest advantage,
which is often financial, over another person. Some basic types of
fraud are as follows:
INDIVIDUAL FRAUD : Individual fraud could be any fraud that
targets a person directly.
CORPORATE FRAUD : Corporate fraud could be any fraud
committed againsta business.
ONLINE FRAUD: Online fraud could be use of internet to commit
crimes.
ADVANCE FEE FRAUD: Advance fee fraud is when fraudsters
target victims to make advance or upfront payments for goods,
services and/or financial gains that do not materialize.

17. CASE STUDIES

1.WHISTLEBLOWING AND BULLYING : A CASE STUDY
Essar filed a 500 crore suit against Greenpeace India(NGO) and
Mahan Sangharsh Samiti(an organization set up to defend the
rights of those, who derive their livelihood from the Mahan
forests). This comes after 14 Greenpeace forest activists scaled
the company's headquarters in Mahalakshmi last week and
unfurled a giant banner. The MSS and youngsters from Mumbai
had staged a dharna(protest) outside the entrance of the
company's building protesting the proposed destruction of Mahan
forests a biodiversity rich forest in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh by
the company.
These are bullying tactics, plain and simple. Essar is
trying to sue us for an amount that is multiple times more than
our annual income, which comes from our committed individual
supporters. Our protest at Essar's headquarters last week was
simply to draw people's attention towards Essar's plans for
rampant destruction of the environment, forest, human and
wildlife by coal mining, in the biodiversity rich forest of Mahan.
Along with the demand that Essar cancels its proposed coal mine
in Mahan, Greenpeace India has also sought the sacking of MoEF,

2.WHISTLEBLOWING AND HARASSMENT : A CASE

STUDY
Infosys Indias one of the most respected software companies,
became entangled in a scandal, that dented its reputation as a
company that had the best corporate governance structure in the
country. The events that took place during October 1999 and
December 2000 became public knowledge in India only when
Phaneesh Murthy (Phaneesh), the head of the sales and marketing,
and communication and product services division of Infosys (and a
director on the board), resigned from his post in June 2002.
Phaneesh said that he had resigned in order to focus on fighting a
lawsuit filed against him in the US. The lawsuit, filed by his former
secretary, Reka Maximovitch (Reka), blew the whistle alleging
that Phaneesh had sexually harassed her and unlawfully terminated
her employment. The company's share price declined by 6.6% soon
after Phaneesh left.
The case attracted a lot of media coverage since a sexual
harassment lawsuit implicating such a senior official had never
been heard of in the Indian corporate world. It was also being seen
as an event that could make Indian companies stop ignoring the
sensitive issue of sexual harassment at the workplace. While sexual
harassment of female employees was prevalent in the country, it
was either not reported or ignored. Either the victims kept quite

3. WHISTLEBLOWING AND FRAUD : A CASE STUDY

SEBI blows the whistle against Sahara. In its desperate bid to
contest SEBI (Stock exchange board of India)s contentions in the
Supreme Court. . In August 2012, the group was ordered to refund
about Rs 20,000 crore (including interest) two of its firms had
raised from investors through illegal optionally fully convertible
debentures. The Supreme Court later gave further extensions, but
the group is yet to conform to the order. The capital market
regulator Sebi is overseeing the refund. The group, however,
claims that it has done most of the refunds and only about Rs 5000
crore is left. The court last month ordered the group to submit
documents of properties worth Rs 20,000 crore with Sebi as
collateral for the refund amount. In keeping with this order.
Sahara has levelled other allegations too, like Sebi did the
same with a property document that Sahara had submitted to it in
March 2012; and that Sebi has not yet refunded to investors the Rs
5,120 crore Sahara had given it last year. Sahara has levelled other
allegations too, like Sebi did the same with a property document
that Sahara had submitted to it in March 2012; and that Sebi has
not yet refunded to investors the Rs 5,120 crore Sahara had given
it last year.

18. WIKILEAKS : WE LEAK SECRETS

Who doesnt know the name of WIKILEAKS, known to be the
premier whistleblowing organization the world. WikiLeaks is an
international, online, non-profit, journalistic organisation which
publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media
from anonymous sources. Its website, initiated in 2006 in Iceland
by the organization Sunshine Press, claimed a database of more
than 1.2million documents within a year of its launch. Julian
Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as
its founder, editor-in-chief, and director. Kristinn Hrafnsson, Joseph
Farrell, and Sarah Harrison are the only other publicly known and
acknowledged associates of Julian Assange
According to the WikiLeaks website, its goal is "to bring
important news and information to the public One of our most
important activities is to publish original source material alongside
our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence
of the truth."
LOGO
AN
Another of theWIKILEAKS
organisation's
goals: is
to ensure that journalists
HOURGLASS
WITH
and whistleblowers
are not jailed
forGLOBE
emailing sensitive or
LEAKING INSIDE
classified documents.

CONCLUSION
While working on this project previously I concluded that the bill
was pending in the Rajya Sabha but it got passed pretty recently
so I had to make some adjustments to my work. Whistle Blowers
Protection Bill was approved by the Cabinet of India as part of a
drive to eliminate corruption in the country's bureaucracy and
passed by the Lok Sabha on 27 December 2011. The Bill was
passed by Rajya Sabha on 21 February 2014 and is waiting for
President's assent.
NEED OF LEGISLATION
There have been multiple instances of threatening, harassment
and even murder of various whistleblowers.
An engineer, Satyendra Dubey, was murdered in November
2003; Dubey had blown the whistle in a corruption case in the
National Highways Authority of Indias Golden Quadrilateral
project.
Two years later, an Indian Oil Corporation officer, Shanmughan
Manjunath, was murdered for sealing a petrol pump that was
selling adulterated fuel.
A Karnataka official SP Mahantesh, said to be a whistle-blower in

Activists are seeking a quick passage of the Whistleblowers

Protection Bill in Parliament. The demands are that a law should be
framed to protect whistleblowers, facilitate the disclosure of
information and uncover corruption in government organisations.

LEGISLATIVE PROCESS
Stage

Date

Introduction

August 26, 2010

Standing Committee referral

September 16, 2010

Standing Committee report

June 9, 2011

Lok Sabha

Passed on 27th December 2011

Rajya Sabha

Passed on 21st February 2014

Thus, from the above information it can be concluded that

Whistleblowing is gaining a very important role in India and thus
laws regarding Whistleblowing are being passed for their
protection. Every country needs Whistleblower Protection Laws
because when one in putting forward a loophole in any part of
system he is working with, the system may go to any extent to
protect its goodwill. So, Whistleblowers need to be protected and
the government should be engaged in building laws to safeguard

BIBLIOGRAPHY
This project would have been incomplete without the following
sources, which helped gather very important and useful data for
the purpose of the project. I would like to take this opportunity to
acknowledge the following sources.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower#India

http://www.whistleblowers.gov/

http://www.ethicalsystems.org/content/whistle-blowing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower_protection_in_India

http://www.pcaw.org.uk/whistleblowing-the-inside-story

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/corruption-corporate-frauds-biggest-risks-in-2014-ficcisurvey/1/351123.html

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Law-against-sexual-harassment-at-workplace-comes-intoeffect/articleshow/27308194.cms

http://www.stopbullying.gov/what-is-bullying/definition/

http://www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/bullying-and-suicide.html