CONSULTING
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DIGITAL FORENSICS
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E-DISCLOSURE
LEGAL NEWS Issue 4
www.cclgroupltd.com
BOARDS & BRIBERY ACT COMPLIANCE
serviCes
gy – developing the strategies that ensure
vely supports business objectives.
ess case – understanding the lifetime costs,
and wider implications of a planned IT project,
e our clients to make the right decision for
iness.
tion and selection – bringing our unrivalled
ge of the market to help clients select the right
m for their business. negotiation - ensuring that our clients’ interests
ected at all times and that suppliers deliver on their
, with well-defined terms that suit business needs.
management – using our proven project
ment methodology to reduce the risk of IT projects
Despite the best efforts of boards and directors, or policies and procedures, there is one interminable problem; people will be people. No matter how proportionate procedures are, how committed top-level management is, how thorough the risk assessment and due diligence is, or how clear communication is, in a business of any size or nature, people can be the biggest liability. Therefore, the most important element of any effective anti-bribery policy must address the sixth and last of the Ministry of Justice’s principles - monitoring and review.
ure they are completed on time, to budget and
ectives.
The burden on boards and directors is an onerous one, due to the far-reaching extent of the provisions of the Bribery Act 2010. For many years the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act 1977 was regarded as the most comprehensive and over-arching anti-bribery regime in the world. As many readers will be aware, the UK Bribery Act 2010 differs from the FCPA in some important regards, and consequently the Bribery Act is arguably the strictest antibribery legislation in the world. Discussing the full implications of the Bribery Act or comparing it in detail with the FCPA is beyond the scope of this article, but it may be useful to bear the following key differences in mind. 1. The key difference is that the Bribery Act 2010 contains a strict liability offence for failure to prevent bribery, of which there is no comparable offence to be found within the FCPA. 2. There is no need to prove the ‘corrupt intent’ element that exists within the FCPA, as the Bribery Act requires only evidence of ‘improper performance’.
The FCPA only covers bribery of foreign public officials outside the USA, whereas the Bribery Act covers commercial bribery and bribery of UK and non-UK public officials. 3. Finally, at least for the purposes of this article, the Bribery Act also contains a specific offence relating to receiving a bribe, rather than just the offences of giving, offering or promising a bribe under the FCPA. In every business employees interact and communicate with one another, and with external parties, using a wide-ranging and ever-growing variety of digital devices. For any board to be fully satisfied that antibribery compliance is working effectively in their business, it is essential that businesses know and understand how they can ensure they have full end-to-end visibility of employee interactions across their digital data landscape, as and when necessary. This is even more important in view of the recent trend towards Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in many organisations, and having effective BYOD policies in place can
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help here. Please see Legal News issue 2 for our article on BYOD and e-disclosure. It is futile for a business to have comprehensive compliance procedures and policies in place, but no effective way of seeing exactly how those procedures are being followed in practice, whether proactively as part of a regular review of compliance procedures, or reactively in response to a particular allegation. Over the coming editions we will explore how digital data investigations and forensic accountancy solutions can assist in providing businesses with this clarity and confidence around compliance with their
anti-bribery obligations.
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