An Online Portal on Integrity in the Private Sector Launched

The Portal is created with the aim to encourage business community to engage in countering corruption and ensure that companies from different countries abide by the principles of business ethics.

It contains, in particular, information about UNODC projects designed to combat corruption in the private sector and funded by the Siemens Integrity Initiative*, as well as materials (publications, practice-oriented instruments, training programmes and e-courses) developed under these projects and regarding anti-corruption activities of organisations, implementation of compliance programmes, standards of conduct and business ethics and relevant procedures.

At present, the information on the following projects is available on the Portal:

Global Integrity Education, implementation period – 2019–2022, countries covered by the project – Kenya, Mexico and Pakistan; the project is aimed at implementing integrity and business ethics training programmes for private sector employees in these countries;
Strengthening Private Sector Capacity to Prevent Corruption and Enhance Integrity in the Arab Countries, implementation period – 2019–2022, countries covered by the project – Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Sudan and the UAE; the aim of the project is to assist companies in developing anti-corruption and compliance programmes, codes of ethics and other documents concerning compliance with the principles of integrity and business ethics;
Strengthening Integrity and Anti-Corruption Efforts of the Private Sector in Myanmar, implementation period – 2020–2022; the project is being implemented in Myanmar and is designed to encourage dialogue among organisations of the private sector and the State and to develop anti-corruption tools and training programmes for companies to be used in their activities;
On the Level: Business and Government against Corruption in Colombia, implementation period – 2020–2024; the project implemented in Colombia is aimed at encouraging interaction between the public and private sectors on promoting the principles of business ethics and fair competition in such areas as healthcare and energy also by conducting analysis of the current legislation, providing assistance in developing guidance and concluding agreements on compliance with integrity principles;
Global Action for Business Integrity, implementation period – 2021–2024, countries covered by the project – Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan; the project is aimed at implementing anti-corruption legislative reforms, exchanging expertise and best practices in this area, providing private sector organisations with recommendations on how to develop and implement compliance programmes, and creating a platform for interaction between the public and private sectors, civil society and academia on anti-corruption matters.

Additionally, the Portal contains information on relevant events organised by UNODC and centered on compliance with the principles of business ethics and standards of conduct, assessment of corruption risks, beneficial ownership transparency, protection of whistleblowers etc.

*The Initiative was launched in line with a requirement included in the settlement between the company and the World Bank concluded due to the acknowledgement by Siemens of its involvement in large-scale corrupt practices in a number of foreign countries, and the corruption investigation conducted by the World Bank with respect to its Russian branch in the course of implementation of “Moscow Urban Transport Project”. Under the settlement, the German corporation pledged, in particular, to pay $100,000,000 within the following 15 years to support projects aimed at countering fraud and corruption. Earlier in 2008, the company was held liable for bribing foreign officials in Argentina, Bangladesh, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Iraq, Israel, China, Mexico, Nigeria and Russia and paying bribes amounting to over $1,4 billion. In conclusion of parallel investigations in the United States and Germany Siemens paid roughly $1,6 billion as a penalty, which was the biggest fine ever imposed in the foreign bribery cases at that time.