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Mini vandePol, Baker & McKenzie, why should large companies seek to tackle bribery and
corruption?
The risk that they face in emerging markets is such that if they don't have a strong program
to tackle bribery and corruption they face huge penalties and fines by overseas regulators
like the Department of Justice or the SEC in the US or the UK regulators. So what they
need to do is to be able to find a way to do business in an ethical fashion which in
turn is going to benefit them from a corporate social responsibility basis, it means that
money's not filtering out from the bottom line into bribes that they're not accounting
for. It also makes the company a stronger business in the world market, so there is
definitely a benefit to be able to act in an ethical manner, and we need to encourage
companies to do that. In Australia that's not really happening, we encourage companies
to be competitive and not engage in anti-competitive conduct, we encourage companies to have good
OH&S regulations and compliance programs, but when it comes to bribery and corruption
we have it tucked away in the criminal code, the law, we don't have a regulator, what we
do is we leave companies to have their names splashed out in the front pages of newspapers,
dragged through a long investigation by the Australian Federal Police and then being embroiled
in lengthy court proceedings. We need to give companies an ability to sit across the table
from a regulator, talk about their uncertainties, find ways of being able to do business better
and have government support to assist them.
Well it seems like you're moving down the direction of having a regulator, do you think
the Australian Government is doing enough in this area and what else can be done?
I don't think the Australian Government is focussing on this area; we have had a lot
of criticisms by the OECD and Transparency International saying to Australia that they
need to step up. A country like ours where opportunities are outside our shores we need
to be setting an example not being the focus of investigations. So to do that we need to
get the Australian Government to do what they did in terms of competition issues, what they
have done in terms of OH&S to lift the general standard of compliance in this area, it's
not rocket science, but it does require some thoughtful consideration and I just don't
think that that happening, and that's at the company's expense. Because my clients want
the ability to know that if they spend time and money on a strong compliance program that
they'll get some kind of recognition for that and that will help others lift their game
as well.
Well it's an interesting point there that you raise Mini, thanks so much for joining
us.
Thank you