Participants of an online conference, organized by the MCCI Compliance and Business Ethics Development Committee, discussed the role and importance of anti-corruption compliance in small and medium business organizations.
In her opening speech, Ms. Svetlana Snezhko, the Head of the Working Group of the Compliance and Business Ethics Development Committee of the Ministry of Transport of Ukraine, noted that in the current situation, corruption risks are increasing: "Unfortunately, the coronavirus and all the issues contained therein, create favourable conditions for dishonest individuals. They exceed their official powers, try to gain their own benefit and completely ignore the interests of those people, who really need financial help, who are ill and are fighting against this disease.
One has to be very careful and more vigilant". Then spoke Mr. Ilya Aleschev, a partner in the Alimirzoev & Trofimov law firm. He described the company's anti-corruption program and standard compliance documents. "It is understandable that when a business faces dramatic changes in the economic environment, it focuses on survival. But for many, this period is an opportunity to think about strategy, to think about compliance," Mr. Aleshev suggested.
“Businesses, based on corrupt practices, are generally inefficient”. Mr. Aleschev is certain that, “Allthough these practices allow a business sometimes, in the short term, to gain some unfair advantages, in the long run it does not work.” He mentioned the consequences of the lack of anticorruption compliance, of which not everyone thinks about.
After all, corruption leads to abuse of its own organisation by management. With the right approach, compliance is a business management system, based on more effective methods. It is a protection against subsidiary liability and is a very topical subject now. It is a protection against abuse by management.
Ms. Snezhko reminded that the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry established a special committee to help businesses implement and develop compliance, including anti-corruption. Her report was entitled: "The urgency and uncertainty of building an anti-corruption program in SMEs". Today, it is not enough just to check and make sure that a potential contractor has not been prosecuted or involved in economic crimes or anti-corruption scandals.
Additionally, an inquiry is made to find out what exactly a company is doing to prevent this. If a company has elements of an anti-corruption program, it significantly increases the level of trust and its reputation for a potential partner. Ms. Snezhko stressed that today, the requirements for those organizations that supply their goods for export are raised to comply with the norms and principles of socially responsible business conduct. And, as a result, leading to the continuation of this trend for the chain of providers of small and medium business suppliers.
It is impossible to ensure anti - corruption compliance only at the level of large companies. The relevance of compliance development for small and medium-sized businesses is related to the fact that an anti-corruption campaign is gathering momentum in Russia and the world. And in the last five years, many Russian companies have been supporting and developing anti - corruption compliance methodology and are leading smaller companies by their example.
Mr. Artur Bolshakov, an attorney and the managing partner of Bolshakov, Chelysheva and Partners Law Office, spoke about commercial bribery and how not to "get legally charged” for accepting souvenirs. In what cases one and the same bottle of wine can be a bribe, and in what cases - a gift. Mr. Bolshakov warned about the many "pitfalls" associated with giving gifts, pointed out the possible risks and abuses.
Mr. Pavel Borzov, the CEO and founder of a Compliance Platform, described how companies can implement and apply this platform in order to support anti-corruption compliance. The Compliance Platform is a service for highly effective compliance risk management and quality compliance with mandatory requirements of Russian and international anti-corruption legislation, as well as for productive training and rapid testing of employees.
In her closing remark, Ms. Snezhko, reminded that compliance is introduced in order to strictly follow the law, not to avoid responsibility for violations.
Recording of the event: https://youtu.be/KIriOCPxv6U
Speakers’ presentations:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1F10Ne20tg_i3bC906ZlntmwLL5NegHwE?usp=sharing