Sweeping ethical changes, backed by a new tough criminal justice bill passed in 2017 – the Corruption Offences Bill, could very well set the stage for Ireland as having some of the best anti-corruption legislation in the world.
The Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill of 2017 will fight fraud head on in industries such as Financial Services. The bill is a part of several pieces of legislation enacted in Ireland to combat fraud. Currently there are several ineffective “Acts” on the books that have dealt with corruption, fraud and unethical business practices. The new Corruption Offences Bill will bring about sweeping changes to an Irish business climate that has suffered at the hands of unethical organizations.
Corruption Offences Bill – Tough New Laws
The Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill of 2017 will be introducing several consequences for unethical business practices. Among these new penalties are:
- Imprisonment of up to 10 years along with large fines for bribes made knowingly (or unknowingly) or with recklessness.
- An increase in the criminal liability to any companies engaging in bribery.
- Irish organizations will automatically be found guilty in their entirety if even a fraction of their executives engage in corrupt activities such as making illegal bribes for the purposes of obtaining or retaining business or to gain an advantage.
- The representatives that could be held accountable can include managers, most any employees, agents or directors. In other words, INDIVIDUAL employees must adhere to strict ethical policies or the entire organizational could be held liable.
- The Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill, states that subsidiaries of a corporation as well as the main corporation can all be held liable. This means, of course that ethical training should not be limited to “headquarters” alone, but to every branch of the organization.
- Even more sweeping in that the Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill applies to
Irish companies operating anywhere in the world. Therefore, if an Irish financial services company operating in the Far East was implicated in a bribery scandal, they would be subject to penalties under this law. Conversely, if a non-Irish company was found guilty of attempting to influence or bribe Irish entities they too would be liable. It means, of course, that ethics training should be a consideration of any organization that does business in Ireland.
A Most Important Point
Naturally, a corporation – whether Irish or foreign is permitted to defend itself against any charges of bribery. However, and from an ethical point of view an extremely important point, a company must prove that it took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid employees attempting to influence or bribe.
Potentially if legislators wanted to pursue an Irish company that had tried to peddle its influence either domestically or overseas, and they determined that no ethical training had ever been in place, it could be the basis for legal action. If we consider the relatively low cost of ethical training and refreshment of that training against the potentially heavy fines and even imprisonment, it is an expense well worth the time and effort.
Template for The Future
In the past few years, we have borne witness to numerous bribery attempts and blatant fraud undertaken by organizations in North America, Mexico, South America, Asia and Europe. Though the “terminology” of that fraud and the organizational structures of the perpetrators may vary somewhat, the end result was the same: penalties, costs, loss of reputation, business and in some cases, declines in share prices.
The Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill could very well serve as a template for organizations around the world. The bill is a major step in the right direction as long as its tenets are taught and then reinforced. In the global economy where, unfair business practices are under intense scrutiny, ethical behavior is no longer a luxury, but a way of life.
The Criminal Justice (Corruption Offenses) Bill provides Irish companies with a clear option: the ethical path or the unethical path which will result in severe penalties and a loss of reputation. The template for future corporate responsibility can easily be found in these pieces of Irish legislation.
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