Tag: investigations

Your right, your role – say no to corruption

ACi is delighted to support the United Nations International Anti Corruption Day this year.

Your right, your role: say no to corruption
Votre droit, votre défi : dites non à la corruption
Tu derecho, tu desafío: dile no a la corrupción
احفظ حقك، العب دورك: قل لا للفساد
你的权利，你的作用：对腐败说不
твое право, твоя роль: скажи коррупции нет

On 31 October 2003, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) based in Vienna, Austria, as the secretariat to the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention. The Convention was opened for signature at a High-Level Signing Conference held in Mexico from 9 to 11 December 2003. As such, the General Assembly designated 9 December as International Anti-Corruption Day (IACD), to raise awareness of corruption and of the role of the Convention in combating and preventing it.

The UNCAC places a premium on the prevention of corruption as a fundamental aspect of criminal justice. It provides for a comprehensive range of preventive anti-corruption measures in a dedicated Chapter (Chapter II) which precedes the Chapter on criminalization and law enforcement. Several provisions of the Convention address the private sector. Among them, Article 12, under Chapter II, calls upon States parties to ensure “…that private enterprises, taking into account their structure and size, have sufficient internal auditing controls to assist in preventing and detecting acts of corruption…”. As such, the prevention of corruption is an obligation for the corporate world too.

The theme of International Anti-Corruption Day 2021 is: “Your right, your role: say no to corruption”. The key message is that a corruption-free word is everybody’s right, and that anti-corruption efforts are everybody’s responsibility – governments, companies, professions, society and individuals alike. The second key message is that policies, laws and mechanisms must be in place, in public and private sectors, for individuals to be able to speak up and say no to this crime without fear of unjustified treatment. An environment where individuals feel free to report wrongdoings, in good faith and on reasonable grounds, contributes to a culture of lawfulness and integrity. It provides a strong deterrent to corrupt practices by those who count on low detection risks if not impunity.

Giovanni Gallo will explain the ongoing role of the UNODC as the “managers” of the UNCAC, their efforts to raise awareness and promote the speak-up culture around reporting corruption and how the Convention addresses the role of the private sector. There will also be a description of a significant integrity initiative developed by the World Bank to establish longer term funding for anti-corruption initiatives. Duncan Smith from the European Investment Bank will then describe anti-corruption efforts from a multi-lateral bank perspective – investigating and sanctioning governments and corporations who engage in corrupt acts in MDB funded projects, and how they can assist in building integrity cultures in the private sector. Finally, Basha Galvin from the Association of Corporate Investigators will explain how the ACi can assist the global fight against corruption through training, education and raising of investigative standards in the corporate world.

The significant impact of corruption on society calls for each of us to play a role in its prevention. Join our high calibre and experienced speakers on International Anti Corruption Day 2021 for this ‘must watch’ webinar. 

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Panel

Mr. Giovanni Gallo, Chief of the Implementation Support Section Corruption and Economic Crime Branch
Division for Treaty Affairs, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Mr. Giovanni Gallo is the Chief of the Implementation Support Section of the Corruption and Economic Crime Branch at UNODC. He oversees the global delivery of technical assistance for governments to better implement the UN Convention against Corruption. This work includes the engagement of other key actors such as the business community, the academic world and civil society. Over the past 20 years, he held several positions at UNODC, both at headquarters and in the field.

From 2011 to 2019, Mr. Gallo served in the Office of the Director-General of the United Nations Office of Vienna (UNOV) and Executive Director of UNODC. He was Deputy Chief of the of the Office from 2011 to 2015, when he received the additional role of Senior Legal Adviser to the Director-General and Executive Director.

From 2006 to 2010, Mr Gallo supported Member Sates’ efforts to tackle transnational organized crime and corruption by providing normative and operational assistance in line with the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocols and the UN Convention against Corruption. From 2001 to 2003, he worked for the UNODC Office in Myanmar.

Mr. Gallo is a lawyer by training and holds an advanced law degree from the University of Bologna, Italy.

Duncan Smith, Deputy Head of Fraud Investigations, European Investment Bank

Duncan Smith is Deputy Head of Fraud Investigations at the European Investment Bank. As a barrister, he prosecuted fraud & corruption in the UK. After working for the World Bank’s Investigation Unit (as Team Leader and then policy adviser), he moved to the European Investment Bank to address outreach, training, prevention and deterrence issues. He is a co-author of the International Financial Institution’s Anti-Corruption Uniform Framework Agreement (2006) & other harmonized Multi-lateral Development Bank documents.

Duncan has written articles for the Basel Institute of Governance and the FCPA Blog, for example: The European Investment Bank’s 2020 Fraud Investigation Activity Report is an important compliance resource;  

What Happens to Allegations of Prohibited Conduct at the European Investment Bank

A fast way to identify fraud risks and vulnerabilities: Proactive Integrity Reviews

and authored the recently published book: Promoting Integrity in the Work of International Organisations: Minimising Fraud and Corruption in Projects.

Basha Galvin, ACi Chief Operating Officer

Basha Galvin

Basha started her career with the Metropolitan Police and moved to the City of London Police Fraud Unit, covering money laundering, trade finance fraud, bribery and corruption.  Basha left the police and moved to Citigroup for four years, moving to Barclays plc in 2006 as Head of Investigations & Whistleblowing for Wealth & Investment Bank. In 2018 Basha moved to the Oil & Gas Industry as Head of Investigations for Tullow Oil Plc leaving in late 2020.  Basha is a seasoned financial crime investigator in the public and corporate sector. She has led and managed global investigations teams.  During her career, Basha has had the opportunity to work in a number of jurisdictions including the USA, APAC and EMEA developing investigation models and collating evidence for civil and criminal prosecutions.  Basha was named as one of the “Top 40 in-house” investigation professionals by Global Investigations Review.

 

Mark Gough,  ACi Regional Advisor

Mark Gough

Mark has over 35 years of professional investigation experience at both national and international levels within the public sector and private sector. Mark started his career as a counter-terrorism investigator with the Australian Federal Attorney General’s Department. From 1996 to 2008, Mark worked in the Investigations Division of the Office of Internal Oversight Services at the United Nations in New York. Mark joined Siemens in 2008 as the Global Deputy Head of Compliance Investigations and managed the Europe/Middle East/Africa investigation team from the Munich headquarters. In October 2014, Mark was appointed as the Regional Head, Case Handling Asia Australia (within the newly created Legal and Compliance – Regulatory Governance structure in Siemens AG), based in Singapore and with a regional office in Beijing. In August 2019, Mark joined Schneider Electric in Singapore as the East Asia, Japan and Pacific Compliance Officer also responsible for all investigations across the region. Mark returned to Australia in early 2021 and started his own consulting company, Gough Risk Consultancy, based in Queensland. Mark will provide the ACi with advice on corporate investigations management, investigation training (investigations and interviewing), strategic investigation policy identification and drafting, and whistleblower risk management issues.

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#NoToCorruption 

#IACD2021

Investigations Quality Assurance

Conducting proportionate and robust investigations takes skill and experience.  In this webinar sponsored by Grant Thornton we will look at several elements – generally and throughout the investigation life-cycle – that may help investigators identify and improve the quality and consistency of their investigations, and help stakeholders gain assurance over the same.

 

 

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Panel

Steve Donaghy, Director, Grant Thornton UK

Steve is a director in Grant Thornton UK’s Forensic and Investigations team, specialising in financial services. He has over 20 years’ experience in investigations and disputes across all segments of the financial services industry, having led on multi-jurisdictional regulatory investigations, as well as investigations into culture, conduct, controls, compliance programmes and systems, and accountability. Throughout this Steve has had extensive engagement with whistle-blowers. Prior to joining Grant Thornton in 2019, Steve’s experience includes seven years at the Royal Bank of Scotland plc, 12 years in a big four forensics practice, and a period of time in Enforcement at the FSA.

 

Lorne Wiggin, Managing Investigator, NatWest

Lorne is a Managing Investigator for the Litigation & Investigations team within NatWest Bank. This means as well as running investigations, he also manages a team of investigators and oversees the investigations they undertake. Having worked for NatWest for over 36 years, Lorne has undertaken multiple roles in that time from starting in-branch banking, through selling mortgages and the associated regulated products, Area Sales Management, Regulated Trainer, Compliance Manager and then Specialist Regulated Compliance Manager, prior to joining investigations in 2006.

 

Simon Stephen, Legal Director, Gowling WLG

Simon is a Legal Director in the Employment, Labour and Equalities team in Gowling WLG, where he has over 12 years’ experience. Prior to re-joining Gowling Simon also spent nearly 5 years in the employee relations department of a global investment bank. There he carried out and supported the whole range of internal investigations, as well as supporting the compliance, legal, risk, audit and whistleblowing teams with HR matters. As an employment lawyer Simon uses his unique blend of in-house and legal experience and specialises in undertaking and advising on investigations (whether himself or as part of a wider working group), cultural reviews, whistleblowing matters and complex employee relations matters. Simon works across all sectors but has a specific interest in financial services and the SM&CR.

 

Basha Galvin, COO, ACi

Basha started her career with the Metropolitan Police and moved to the City of London Police Fraud Unit, covering money laundering, trade finance fraud, bribery and corruption.  Basha left the police and moved to Citigroup for four years, moving to Barclays plc in 2006 as Head of Investigations & Whistleblowing for Wealth & Investment Bank. In 2018 Basha moved to the Oil & Gas Industry as Head of Investigations for Tullow Oil Plc leaving in late 2020.  Basha is a seasoned financial crime investigator in the public and corporate sector. She has led and managed global investigations teams.  During her career, Basha has had the opportunity to work in a number of jurisdictions including the USA, APAC and EMEA developing investigation models and collating evidence for civil and criminal prosecutions.  Basha was named as one of the “Top 40 in-house” investigation professionals by Global Investigations Review.

 

 

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Webinar Sponsored by:

Navigating Senior Management Investigations

For all investigators, navigating senior management allegations involves handling a number of unique challenges. In particular, sensitivities arise regarding initial escalation, stakeholder engagement, data retrieval and review, and conducting interviews. Issues may also arise regarding whether the individual remains in their role during the investigation, notifications to relevant regulatory bodies, and consequence management. At the same time, investigation teams can face significant pressure to conduct the investigation quickly in order to minimise disruption. This webinar, kindly sponsored by K2 Integrity,  explores these challenges, and more, based on the panellists’ practical experience of handling these types of allegations.

 

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Jane Shvets, Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton

Jane Shvets is a partner and member of Debevoise & Plimpton’s White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group focused on white collar defense and internal investigations, in particular regarding compliance with corrupt practices legislation. Ms. Shvets boasts a genuine international pedigree, having worked with clients on enquiries from authorities in the U.S., UK, Germany, Russia, and elsewhere, and on matters spanning jurisdictions in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Russia and the Middle East. In addition to her core investigations practice, Ms. Shvets also leads the firm’s sanctions practice in Europe, guiding clients through a sanctions landscape that has shifted significantly and swiftly in recent years. She is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions for her work, including having been named White-Collar Crime Lawyer of the Year (Benchmark Litigation Europe Awards 2020), Best in White Collar Crime (LMG Europe Women in Business Law Awards 2019), and listed to Global Investigations Review’s 2020 “40 Under 40” list and Benchmark Litigation USA’s 2021 “40 and Under Hot List.” Ms. Shvets holds a J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School. She is a native Russian speaker and is proficient in Ukrainian.

 

Olivia Allison, Senior Managing Director, K2 Integrity

Olivia Allison is a senior managing director in the Investigations and Risk Advisory practice for K2 Integrity, resident in London. She has extensive expertise helping large private, state-owned and publicly listed companies carry out investigations into fraud, bribery, corruption and other misconduct. Olivia has also worked closely with a range of entities to improve their governance and controls, including in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and other emerging markets. Her practice has been particularly focused in oil and gas, mining and extractive industries, as healthcare, retail and financial services.

 

Joanne Taylor, Senior Managing Director, K2 Integrity

Joanne Taylor, a senior managing director at K2 Integrity, has 20 years of legal, investigations and financial crime compliance experience, which includes fraud risk management, anti-bribery and corruption, regulatory enforcement and investigations experience working within the financial and legal services industries.  She has extensive experience of leading investigations relating to conduct issues, fraud, bribery & corruption and AML and her previous roles have included Global Head of Whistleblowing and Global Deputy Head of Anti-Fraud Bribery & Corruption at a major European bank.

 

Moderator

Mary Eastwood, Executive Director

Mary is an Investigations, Whistleblowing and Ethics specialist with 21 years’ experience in the fields of evaluation, assurance and investigations. She has worked across the public, private, charitable and humanitarian sectors. Mary started her career as a criminology researcher focusing on crime reduction, social inclusion and ethical compliance for the UK Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Youth Justice Board and UK police forces. She then worked in an international NGO as Oxfam’s Fraud and Corruption Team lead and most recently as Head of Investigations at the world’s largest university publisher, Oxford University Press. She is a certified fraud examiner and investigator with significant experience in fraud, bribery and corruption risk management and prevention of sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse. She has successfully set up and managed internal global ‘whistleblowing’ channels, investigations functions and ethics programmes, and has conducted hundreds of complex global investigations across cultures and languages in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas, often in hardship settings. Mary enjoys communications and outreach: she is a regular contributor to thought leadership discussions, and delivers training in corporate investigations and ethical behaviour programmes to stakeholders at all levels.

 

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