Risks of corruption
Internal control is a process in which the organization regulates its activities to effectively and efficiently fulfill its mission and meet the objectives. One of the requirements of the internal control system is the prevention of corruption risk and sound managing of conflict of interest.
Regular trainings on corruption and conflict of interest issues is a prerequisite for ensuring essential requirement to reduce the risk for organization to be involved in corrupt activities.
In public sector set of requirements for corruption prevention is determined by law. It is stated that the chairman of the institution shall establish internal control system and among other things adress risk of corruption and conflict of interests.
In private sector regulatory framework is not as concentrated, however, be aware that bribery is a widespread phenomenon in international transactions, including trade and investment, which raises serious concern, threatens good governance and economic development, and distorts international competitive conditions.
On March 31, 2014 Latvia has joined the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. Latvia has confirmed its readiness to combat bribery of public officials and corruption, and is committed to promoting international cooperation to ensure the success of cross-border bribery investigations and whistleblower protection that is required to strengthen co-operation between government, the private sector and the society in the fight against corruption. Among other things, the Convention lays down an obligation to determine the liability of legal persons for the bribery of public officials and imprisonment for privat individuals.
Despite the fact that the legislative basis for combating corruption in the private sector is still developing, companies in the private sector are already facing challenges and the need to implement effective internal controls to adress corruption risks. For example, the UK Bribary Act prescribes unlimited monetary fine and possibility to accuse companies woldwide on extraterritorial bases.
An adequate and comprehensive internal control system of corruption risk management is your key to success. One of the elements of internal control is personnel training.
Compliance Baltic SIA has developed an anti-corruption training course which provides an insight into the corruption phenomenon in public and private sectors, the criminal liability aspects etc. The course is designed in simple and accessible language, providing interactive engagement and feedback directly throughout training process, as well ends up with a test.
Each student, successfully passing the test, will receive a certificate on the acquisition of knowledge. The whole training process is documented accordingly, records on staff training process and test results are available on demand.