Combating corruption: what can your business do?

We have seen yet another large scale corporate corruption scandal come to light following a BBC Panorama investigation into British American Tobacco.

In a documentary broadcast recently, it was alleged that BAT, the UK’s fifth largest company, paid bribes to government officials in Africa with the intention of undermining anti-smoking legislation and made facilitation payments to damage rival companies.

Former employee turned whistleblower Paul Hopkins said he was told bribery was the cost of doing business in Africa, but bribery in any country contravenes the UK Bribery Act 2010.

So, ahead of International Corruption Day, what can your business do to combat corruption?

Raising awareness

Getting training right is vital in tackling corruption. Companies judged to have failed to prevent bribery from taking place can be subject to potentially unlimited fines as well as reputational damage.

Both committing bribery and being bribed are criminal offences and, as highlighted in the documentary when a government minister was allegedly bought a flight in exchange for undermining an anti-smoking bill, giving and receiving gifts can also constitute bribery.

Raising awareness levels throughout your organisation is therefore a must. To help businesses do this, VinciWorks provide a range of eLearning including three Anti-Bribery and Corruption courses designed to meet the requirements of various job roles.

So, whether a member of staff deals exclusively in the UK, engages in global financial transactions, or simply requires an overview to reduce the risk of being bribed, we have the training solution.

How are you managing your GDPR compliance requirements?

GDPR added a significant compliance burden on DPOs and data processors. Data breaches must be reported to the authorities within 72 hours, each new data processing activity needs to be documented and Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) must be carried out for processing that is likely to result in a high risk to individuals. Penalties for breaching GDPR can reach into the tens of millions of Euros.

“In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear.”