09/11/2015 Asia Business Report

Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.

After the first free election in a quarter of a century, what will a

new government mean for Myanmar's economy? And, taking the pulse of

rapidly rising grain costs in India. We will look at why farmers are

hoarding their crops. Good morning. I'm Rico Hizon in Singapore.

Counting is currently under way in Myanmar's first openly contested

national election in a quarter of a century. Millions have cast their

ballots in the polls, with the turnout thought to have been at 80%.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party is expected to win the most seats, but the final

results could be days away. What will the election mean for

Myanmar's economy and investors? When investors first started

seriously looking at the market in 2011, and a lot of them came in

across the economic spectrum, and a lot went back. This is a frontier

market, not all of the country is powered at any one time. Myanmar

wants to be open for business, but the question is whether business

will come. We have seen before it has been a bit of a barbel economy.

You have oil and gas and hydropower and infrastructure, and then things

like smart consumables, shampoo and toothpaste, and not much in between.

They need to do as much as they can to absorb that, and attract it in

and create jobs. For we get ahead of ourselves and look at the economic

development of Myanmar, we have to look at the election results, and

everybody is looking at the National League for democracy to win maybe

67% of seats. The question is whether the military will respect

the results. I think they will, it is an interesting question and not

completely solve. The military has been planning this transition for a

long time, they know they have two open up and they know they

desperately need investment. It wouldn't be beyond comprehension, we

don't think they will shut the door now. They have interests in the

transition, they want managed democracy but not too much. If Aung

San Suu Kyi's party leads the government, do they have the

experience to run the economy? That is the challenge. Revolutionaries

don't always make the best governments. The capacity in the

party is a serious problem, she is the party, there is not a lot of

bench behind her. That is one big outstanding question. Great

intentions, but not a very deep bench when it comes to policy.

China's imports falling for the 12 month in a row in October, raising

fresh concerns about the world's second-largest economy. Imports

dropping nearly 19% to more than $130 billion. Exports also slipping

for a fourth straight month, leaving China with its highest trade surplus

on record. It closed at about $62 billion. Passengers of German

carrier Lufthansa are due to be hit by more than 900 flight

cancellations on Monday as cabin crew staff strike over cost cuts.

Lufthansa is locked in a long-running dispute with unions

over retirement benefits. Flights were also cancelled on Friday and on

Saturday. It has been 14 years since the

collapse of Enron, which led to a wave of fraud prosecutions and a

tightening of governance. For how long? The chief financial officer of

the companies spent more than five years in prison for financial

crimes. Speaking in Singapore, he gave a scathing assessment of the

current state of fraud detection and enforcement. He says...

Is he right? We spoke with the chief executive of the Association of

Certified Fraud Examiners. I think our business system is set up to

encourage people to push stock options and bonuses based on

performance. It is now possible for companies and organisations to do

business throughout the world, and the amounts of data they collect our

massive, and it poses a great problem for professionals that

certified fraud examiners, to monitor that, and to know what to

look for. You talk about accountants, this is another area we

refer to. This army of people who are designed to try to work around

the rules. Very much so. Their fees count on it, nobody wants anybody

bringing bad news up. I have seen time and time again where

accountants were transferred off a particular assignment as they were

agreeing with what the company was doing. They were the negative force

and in effect the whistleblower. You paint a very depressing picture, if

you like. It seems nothing has changed, no lessons have been

learned. People are people, and you're in good economic times people

don't question good news, and what you will see is the economy, when

they do come into a slow economic time, you will see a lot of these

frauds are exposed at that point. We will have a period like we did post-

Enron when a lot of people are prosecuted, but eventually the

memory of that faith and we will go back to the good times. How

widespread do you think it is today in 2015? The average corporation

today is losing about 5% of their gross revenue, that is after they

pay expenses and taxes... It is very widespread. That is through fraud?

5% of gross revenue through fraud? Yes, through fraud. 51% of business

failures can be directly attributed to fraudulent behaviour. What about

the big end? The Enron kind of fraud? How much do you think that is

going on? As long as there is enough money to keep the ball in the air,

it will keep going. When that stops, that is when the fraud is exposed.

Moving to India, and the cost of basic staple foods is out of reach

for some people, and rising prices are major political issue. Recently,

the value of lentils and other pulses have been affecting the

poorest of them all. We report on efforts to prevent deliberate

stockpiling. From Currys to dahl, lentils are

important ingredient. But now, the prices of lentils have surged in the

last few months -- curries. They are double what they were a year ago.

They are a main source of protein for the large vegetarian population

of India, and those who can't afford to buy meat. That price rise is

being felt in many households. Part of the problem is a shortage of

pulses. Many farmers only grow them as a second great crop, with rice

and wheat getting priority. And farmers like this one have stopped

producing pulses to sell. TRANSLATION: This year there was so

little rain we barely produce enough for ourselves so we had nothing to

sell and made no money from its. At wholesalers like this one, the

government is trying to limit price rises by restricting how much stock

can be held, and while here it is an entirely legal operation, over the

last few weeks authorities have raided thousands of their houses,

where so-called hoarding is going on. People storing pulses in the

hope that shortages will push up prices. It is estimated India needs

22 million tons of pulses every year, but in the last financial year

just over 17 tons were produced. -- 70 million tons. I think rightly

crop is something we have to do work on if it is not already being done,

and giving cash incentives. The prices of pulses do tend to come

down after the Diwali Festival, which opens this week. But with

demand expected to keep going, these problems seem here to stay.

Most Asian stock markets are weaker with a strong jobs report and

prospect of higher interest rates as early as December. The All

Ordinaries is in negative territory. There is a weaker yen, meaning

exporters are gaining at 1.5% in the Nikkei 225. Thank you for investing

your time with us. Our top stories: The counting of

votes in Myanmar's first clearly contested elections in