Author: Nick Kochan and Robin Goodyear
ISBN No: 9780 2302 9843
Review date: 05/12/2025
No of pages:
Publisher: Palgrave
Publisher URL:
http://www.palgrave.com
Year of publication: 11/09/2012
Brief:
The Bribery Act has yet to bed down - meanwhile, a book on corruption spells out how this new law provides a ‘corporate challenge’.
The Bribery Act is at the core of a strong and up to date book tbout corporate fraud. The authors end by expecting that, given tight resources, the authorities will look most at ‘companies operating in countries at greatest risk of exposure to corruption, namely those with unstable or politically insecure regimes’. As they say, companies to comply with the Bribery Act will have to know the customs of the countries they operate in. If your firm is ‘unconsciously incompetent’, at least there’s no criminal intent; but woe betide you if you are ‘consciously incompetent’, and turning a blind eye to bribery. You are most at risk of prosecution, the authors say. As the book concludes, large global bodies have a responsibility to wider society, and to the markets. (In plain English, it’s no excuse to shrug off paying bribes because someone else will to win the deal.) The heart of the book covers how wide the risks are to business – whatever part of the world or sector. Helpfully the book goes through Ministry of Justice guidance on the Act, and beyond, suggesting a code of conduct and ‘ethical culture’. Should a company judge people on their values, besides their skills, when recruiting? Much of this is the stuff of fraud prevention – how important it is to have a ‘lead from the top’ and zero tolerance, and to watch for ‘red flags’, or signs. This book can aid corporate security people to use anti-corruption to drive good business in their organisation; and to advise directors. One fault of the book is hardly the authors’ fault; the Bribery Act has not been tested by courts; yet.
