Keep your company safe from bribery amid the upheaval

While the Covid-19 pandemic has caused economic upheaval, it has also brought concerning issues in compliance, primarily with anti-bribery, for the surviving companies. The unstable situation may drive companies to put profit over compliance as their main priority because of the tight budget, relaxed control, and lack of resources. Therefore, potentially leading to a greater risk for bribery.

Bribery risk in M&A

An example would be in Merger and Acquisition (M&A) activities. The crisis might drive a company to settle and quickly make decisions without being well informed of the increase in their corporate liability risk. For example, a company that wants to buy a business and skip due diligence on the prospective business might have paid bribes to government officials in exchange for medicine sales.

Later, if authorities finds these violations, the company may face allegations for being involved in the violation for not conducting due diligence in the first place. This is similar to Goodyear’s case in February 2015.

Some also see the crisis as an opportunity to gain benefits for their own personal interest. Charitable organizations and companies with charitable programs are exposed by potential fraud such as bribery. An example would be an individual in the company might abuse their power by making a donation to a particular organization as a tradeoff for a partnership contract.

Strong commitment in implementing anti-bribery

The risks can be mitigated by strong commitment in implementing, maintaining and even strengthening the company’s Anti-bribery Management System (ABMS). Implementing ABMS not only helps the company to avoid or mitigate the costs, risks and damages due to the involvement of bribery, but also to avoid corporate liability.

The ongoing crisis is the right time for your company to implement the ABMS. For those who have already implemented it, the crisis is a test of the company’s strong commitment.

Integrity is ready to assist you to set up your own Anti-Bribery Management System. Integrity will also provide support for the implementation of the SNI ISO 37001: 2016 ABMS. For further information on how we can help you with our ABMS service, do not hesitate to contact us.

Also Read:          

Bribery Risks I: Why Consider the ISO 37001 Certification

Bribery Risks II: Identifying Risks and Vulnerable Activities

Primary key to Raising Concern of Anti-Bribery

Photo by Silas Köhler on Unsplash