Corruption currents set the private sector adrift!
Corruption has always been a part and parcel of our everyday lives. Like invisible white termites, it has been silently eating away at every aspect of our system be it the political, social, economic or the cultural sphere for decades. However, it is only as the world was increasingly exposed to the various scams and scandals coming to the surface, that this problem gained visibility, talkability and acknowledgement. This is especially true within the Indian context as despite retail and transactional corruption being omnipresent in the system, it took an anti-corruption crusade led by Anna Hazare to put the issue in the limelight and mobilize every section of society in protest. But while this popular uprising clearly marked corruption as a problem endemic to the bureaucracy and the government sphere, it ignored its presence in the private and corporate business houses.
“ I would like to report about a Pvt Company which I have worked for and the high level of corruption in which even the Professional Tax officials are involved. No Professional tax registration has been done by the company though it is running since 4 years in Bangalore and 18 years in the USA, nor is Professional Tax shown on pay slips of employees which is compulsory in Bangalore. The Professional tax officials are involved as they have taken Bribe or money for themselves to help the company not pay for register under professional tax. Any person who tries to question the Company on this is harassed and forced to leave by pouring false accusations on that person. No ESI registration has been done. The cleaners are made to hide if they come to know of any PF labour official making a visit to show there are no full time cleaners. Also employees in this company are deputed to other IT MNC’s ,( which makes them all under the company’s employee list ) Yet they show that they do not have more then 4-5 employees directly working in their office. Kindly let me know a way to reveal this companies name without revealing my identity as I fear harassment , The Director also sent an office boy to pry on my house to enquire from my house maid of my whereabouts after I had left the company. ******* - ipaidabribe.com, Bribe Report, Private Sector Corruption.
While most of our experiences and examples of bribery can be drawn from our interfaces with the administrative and civic agencies, one cannot limit corruption to the government sphere. Most of the businesses involve interfaces with multiple parties, the corporate world being no exception. In the process, bribery and corrupt practices have always become just another part of doing business. As debates around private sector corruption surfaced, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the need to expand the anti-corruption legal framework and make bribery in the private sector a criminal offence.
When Transparency International, the global anti-corruption civil society organisation conducted a research and published the Bribe Payers Index, 2011, 3000 top managers around the world were interviewed so as to assess their attitudes towards bribery. It was found that illegal payments were most often used to secure major public contracts, remove regulatory obstacles and influence politicians. The recently exposed 2G spectrum scam is a standing testimony for this and validates the Transparency survey. Additionally, in a recent survey undertaken by KPMG, the real estate and construction industry turned out to be the most corruption prone sector followed by telecommunications. The survey covering the perspectives from the corporate sector also saw a majority of managers admitting that private sector is greatly responsible for bribery and nepotism. As this clearly highlights the need to re-define corruption, one must think beyond the conventional boundaries that isolate political corruption from corporate corruption. Especially since the corporate world is part of the same society that has created and perpetuated political corruption and unethical practices since time immemorial.
In this age of globalisation, as our economies witness an increase in trans-national businesses, countries across the globe have designed various laws and policies to contain unethical business practices.
Global CFOs now undertake various checks and due-diligence under these Acts and other anti-bribery enforcements. The UK Bribery Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Acts (FCPA) of the United States are striking examples of such robust anti-corruption mechanisms. It is thus time for every sector and industry to develop business models that are devoid of corruption.
Strong anti-corruption programmes to reduce the existing gap between potential corruption risks and existing laws and policies should be put in place. Bribes in no way make good business sense and cause only disrepute to the company. As skyline differences in business culture across boundaries leave space for lot of grey areas with regards to business ethics and ethos, a strong anti-corruption mechanism that brings under its purview every aspect of public as well as private governance is the need of the hour!
- Sharda