WG Anti-Bribery and Corruption
The Working Group “Anti-Bribery and Corruption” aims to bring together in-house compliance practitioners, in-house lawyers, white-collar crime lawyers, investigators, risk managers, auditors from different industries and members of the law enforcement community to exchange experiences, discuss best practices and challenges and understand new corruption laws and enforcement trends. We are hoping for an active participation in this working group and we welcome any speakers or ideas for future events.
The WG Anti Bribery was be launched at an open event on 14 December 2016 in Zurich.
Patrick Wellens and Claudia Götz Staehelin are co-chairing the WG which will serve as a platform for discussion and exchange among ECS members.
December 2024 – Green Corruption: can compliance save the date
Members of the working group Anti-bribery and corruption convened at the Basel Institute of Governance on December 9 where Juhani Grossmann, Head, Green Corruption program, gave us insights into some of the key risks around illegal wildlife, forestry crimes, illegal mining, minerals needed for energy transition.
Summary of the discussion and corruption risks highlighted were (to name a few):
- Lack of segregation of duties and inherent conflict of interest i.e. in some countries the same Ministry is responsible for nature conversation and land development
- Enforcement authorities in many countries do not have sufficient resources
- Difference value systems between established economies and emerging markets
- Renewable energy (wind/solar) are sectors strongly benefiting from subsidies. The lack of transparency on subsidies, tax breaks given and lack of transparency on ultimate beneficiary owners of companies benefiting from subsidies /tax breaks are corruption risks
- Carbon credit market . This market contains many players such as land stewards, carbon credit project developers, certifiers and buyers and within the process there are many possibilities for corruption e.g. certifies might get a percentage for every credit certified, developers might slightly fiddle with the boundaries of protected area, the market does not have any real certification bodies, allegations of exaggeration in climate claims etc.
The Basel Institute also looked into governance and corruption risks in energy transition sector and published a report that can be download from its website – Corruption and governance risks threaten a just energy transition – but there’s also good news | Basel Institute on Governance
Lessons Learned from FCPA Monitor
On December 4, 2024 members of the working group convened at the Glockenhof in Zurich to listen to a presentation by Kees Van Ophem, the (ex) Global general counsel of Fresenius Medical Care, who gave us detailed and fascinating insights in the various corruption schemes used in the various countries, the lessons learned pre-monitorship, insights in working with monitor and the situation “post monitor” (new normal).
Interestingly the total costs of the monitor, costs of investigation and costs to terminate employees involved in corrupt behavior by far exceeded the revenue generated in the countries that were part of the investigation. Crime does not pay!
Some of the lessons learned :
- The more decentralized a company is, the more “check and balances” are needed, also locally and the more common global values are needed;
- Incentives for sales: better (more) on (net) margins/net cash received than revenue/market share; indirect sales is more risky and costly; consider going direct;
- Make Legal & Compliance upfront part of any engagement of 3rd parties (sales agents, distributors, consultants etc.), M&A/business case assumptions or other non-standard transactions and make them part of the decisions;
- Have internal audit do 3rd party review (especially sales intermediaries in high-risk markets)
- Have the medical organization deal with HCP’s, not commercial organization, and have global procurement organization do procurement for local products and services supply
- Third Parties and Public tender remain the highest corruption risks
November 2024 – Human Rights, Corruption And Compliance: Understanding Private Security Supply Chains
On November 28 members of the working group “anti-bribery and corruption” and working group “third party risk management” convened at the premises of Bayer Schweiz AG in Zurich where Jamie Williamson, Managing Director of Icoca (International Code of Conduct Association) talked about “ Human Rights, Corruption And Compliance: Understanding Private Security Supply Chains”.
Some of the lessons learned are:
- Companies should consider security of supply chains as an internal risk and not an external (outsourced) risk
- Employees at private security firms are often exposed to inadequate (protective) equipment, no access to unions, long working hours, long commutes to workplace, low wages, inadequate insurance coverage. This in combination with private security guards carrying arms are potentially risky situations from a reputational point of view.
- Poor procurement practices – such as focusing the selecting/sourcing of private security companies entirely on price- might lead to security employees being paid minimum wages but not adequate wages. Security guards might not have proper health or disability insurance. Companies are well advised to look into their contracts.
- How interactions with local communities are managed, will have an impact on the reputation of the company.
- Conflict of interests (e.g. security guards working during day time as police agent, and during night time as company security guard) need to be properly managed.
Icoca as an umbrella organization provides capacity building, certification and monitoring to minimize human rights . Companies might find numerous useful resources.
April 2024 – AI-Enhanced Investigations: ‘Revolutionizing Corruption Investigations’
The working group Anti-bribery and anti-corruption convened on April 3 in the offices of Bar & Karrer to listen to Adrian Ott, Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer of EY. After an introduction by Claudia Götz Staehelin, Partner at Bär & Karrer, the audience were shown various used cases were AI could apply.
Some of the key learnings are:
👉 State-of-the-art large language models such as GPT-4.0 are able to thoroughly analyze extensive emails and documents, create summaries or make critical assessments with remarkable accuracy.
👉 By creating a well-structured and logically formulated prompt that serves as a guide for the AI, it can search through the content of thousands of emails and track down relevant information within minutes. This capability proves to be particularly helpful in complex investigations that are flooded with extensive data and provides significant support by quickly identifying relevant findings.
November 2023 – Corruption risks and challenges
On November 14, around 40 participants gathered at Bär & Karrer offices in Zurich for a live event moderated by Claudia Götz Staehelin and Patrick Wellens, co-chairs of ECS’s Anti-Bribery and Corruption Working Group. Distinguished panelists shared sector-specific insights on corruption risks, mitigation strategies, and challenges. The event highlighted innovative approaches to combatting corruption.This event served as the kickoff for a series of upcoming engagements by the Anti-Bribery and Corruption Working Group. Stay tuned for more insightful discussions and initiatives!
As panelists were invited:
Patrick Trepanier, Director Compliance FIFA
He is the current Director of Compliance at the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), as well as the Director to the Secretariat for the FIFA Independent Committees. He is also a Member of the FIFA Clearing House Supervisory Board. Prior to FIFA, he was Compliance Head for Alcon Pharmaceuticals, formerly a Novartis Division.
Barbara Lustenberger, Senior Director Compliance infront sports &media AG
Barbara joined the international full-service sports agency Infront Sports & Media AG as Director of Group Compliance beginning of 2013. She has built up Infront’s Compliance Management System from its first steps and continuously optimizes its processes, policies, training etc. The latest achievement resulted in the ISO 37301 certification of its Compliance Management system, Previously she worked for UEFA (European Football Association), in the Disciplinary Services. Barbara is a member of the foundation board of “Swiss Sport Integrity”, the national anti-doping agency and host of the national whistleblowing hotline for athletes and coaches in Switzerland.
Philipp Schinz, Head of Compliance Barry Callebaut AG
Philipp Schinz is Head of Compliance at Barry Callebaut AG and has been working in Corporate Compliance for over 15 years. He is responsible for compliance management and the group’s international case investigations. He also accompanies the procedural development to ensure supply chain compliance and the ESG strategy, taking into account national and international challenges.
Andreas Büscher, DVP, Ethics & Compliance Officer, Abbott
Andreas is the Ethics & Compliance Officer of Abbott’s branded generic medicines’ business, which is based in Switzerland and focused on bringing trusted medicines to broaden access to health in more than 95 emerging countries around the world. He is responsible for the division’s compliance program. Prior to joining the compliance function, Andreas has been working for over a decade in the legal function of different companies in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry.
October 2023 – The increase in China regulatory investigations in life sciences: why, how and where is it going?
On October 9 Kent Kedl, a partner of Control Risks, based in Shanghai with 35 years of experience in life science industry in China, explained to the participants that in the past the Chinese authorities targete pharma or medtech companies that were bribing healthcare /government officials. Now the focus of the investigations is on the demand side, i.e., the Healthcare Professionals and Healthcare Organizations. Kent explained what authorities are involved in the corruption investigation, why such investigations are taking place and also gave some practical tips what companies can do to overcome being asked for bribes by healthcare professionals in China.
The event was moderated by Patrick Wellens, co-chair of the WG life sciences and co-chair of WG anti-bribery and corruption.
WG meeting 5 July 2018
The Working Group confirmed its intention to work on producing practical guidance on self reporting of corruption issues by companies in Switzerland. Members started working on a methodology to build such a deliverable as well as gathering suggestions for themes, questions or issues to be addressed by the document. A first list of questions was circulated among the working group members, some of whom started to raise their hand to contribute to the drafting.
Next steps for the Working Group :
- Keep gathering input ideas and contribution submissions for the deliverable
- Organize 2 to 3 working group meetings during which the drafting of the document will be discussed (in addition to other topics suggested by participants).
- Invite a Swiss Federal Prosecutor to one of these meetings to get the official perspective on Self Reporting
The next meeting of the working group will be held in Q1 2019
WG meeting 15 March 2018
The Working Group decided to focus its work in 2018 on the creation of a document on self reporting of corruption issues by companies. The Working Group will organize several meetings in 2018 to work on the creation of this document (dates and venues to be finalized). Contributions from all ECS members to these meetings are welcome !
WG meeting 7 December 2017, Basel
The ECS WG on Anti-Bribery met on 7 December 2017 in Basel for a look-back review of legal and regulatory developments in 2017, featuring amongst others the developments in the Odebrecht Car Wash Scandal and the entering into force of the new French anti-corruption law (SAPIN II). The discussion of the group on the anti-corruption outlook for 2018 informed the proposal of topics for the upcoming meetings of the WG.
The Working Group on Anti-Bribery will hold quarterly meetings alternating between Basel and Zurich.
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