Alaco has just participated in the General Counsel Strategy Summit 2013 in Lisbon, organised by The Lawyer. Directors Oliver Gorton and Ambrose Carey co-chaired four sessions of Round Table discussion groups looking at the Bribery Act’s effect on compliance programmes.
General Counsels from companies in an array of different sectors shared their experiences and discussed how the Act had impacted upon their work, both strategically and in their day-to-day activity.
There was general consensus that the Act had been undermined by a lack of significant prosecutions brought by the SFO - with the only actions taken to date against a student, a minicab driver and a court clerk, counsel reported it increasingly hard to keep it on the in-house agenda. A major corporate prosecution, something anticipated by many of those present, might help focus the mind, they argued.
There was agreement also around the table for the central role of due diligence in any compliance programme. Several General Counsels pointed out that “due diligence of existing or prospective associated persons” served far more than the needs of the Act itself and was just as applicable to issues such as money laundering and reputation management.
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