Africa - Bribery and corruption: 2015: a year of more pressure on African governments to have stronger enforcement of anti-bribery and corruption regulation

PRESS RELEASE

2015: a year of more pressure on African governments to have stronger enforcement of anti-bribery and corruption regulation 

"The way that things have always been done” is changing in many African countries

LAGOS, Nigeria, March 13, 2015/ -- 57.6% of companies see the development of policies and procedures that can be practically applied in all countries as the most challenging internal anti-corruption and compliance issue.* This is one of the topics discussed today at a webcast with Uche Orji, CEO and Managing Director, Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), hosted by Control Risks’ CEO Richard Fenning (https://www.controlrisks.com).

•          While FCPA and UKBA still lead anti-bribery and corruption regulation, in a number of African countries the governments feel increasing pressure to join the current trend of stronger enforcement of anti-bribery and corruption regulation in developing countries

•          An integrated, global approach to mitigate corruption risk is important, but local adjustment is key

•          “The way that things have always been done” is changing in many African countries and often management determination and the acceptance of “wasted” time and higher costs can avoid the need for bribes to secure business.

•          Only 66% of internationally operating companies have policies in place that forbid facilitation payments

Tom Griffin, Managing Director West Africa, Control Risks, comments on the discussion:

“Often companies try to roll-out a global anti-bribery and corruption programme from Western headquarters and are then surprised that it is not effectively implemented in other markets – this is not unique to African countries. Companies need to adapt the policies and initiatives to the local culture, for example the type of training for employees. Some of our clients with their headquarters in Africa are more effective in their fight against bribery and corruption than those headquartered elsewhere, as they have an anti-bribery and corruption programme very focussed on the specific issues of their market.”

“Knowing the local market and the country you are operating in is key to implementing a successful anti-bribery and corruption programme.”

“Control Risks sees a change in ‘how things have always been done’ in many African countries. The fight against corruption is higher on the political agenda than ever before and when we discuss the corruption problems in operating in these countries, we need to acknowledge this.

For more information and to receive the recording of the webcast, please click here: http://goo.gl/IZjnLF

* Source: International business attitude to corruption, Control Risks, 2015: https://www.controlrisks.com/en/services/integrity-risk/international-business-attitudes-to-corruption-2014

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Control Risks.