Corruption afflicts all countries, undermining social progress and breeding inequality and injustice.

When desperately needed development funds are stolen by corrupt individuals and institutions, poor and vulnerable people are robbed of the education, health care and other essential services.

Although the poor may be marginalized by corruption, they will not be silenced. In events across the Arab world and beyond this year, ordinary people have joined their voices in denouncing corruption and demanding that governments combat this crime against democracy. Their protests have triggered changes on the international scene that could barely have been imagined just months previously.

All of us have a responsibility to take action against the cancer of corruption.

The United Nations is helping countries combat corruption as part of our broader, system-wide campaign to help bolster democracy and good governance.

The United Nations Convention Against Corruption is a powerful tool in the fight. I urge all governments that have not yet ratified it to do so without delay. I also call on governments to include anti-corruption measures in all national programmes that support sustainable development.

The private sector, too, stands to gain enormously from effective action. Corruption distorts markets, increases costs for companies and ultimately punishes consumers. Companies can create a more transparent global economy through anti-corruption initiatives, including the work of the United Nations Global Compact.

On this International Anti-Corruption Day, let us pledge to do our part by cracking down on corruption, shaming those who practice it and engendering a culture that values ethical behaviour.

It is six months since the UK Bribery Act came into force and it’s evident that many organisations still have no idea what to do if they discover their employees have been involved in acts of bribery and more importantly what the consequences are for them as individuals and their company.

In short, the Act establishes two general offences of bribery, which basically involve bribing another person and being bribed. The Act also creates the offence of bribing a foreign public official. The last offence – a failure of commercial organisations to prevent bribery – can only be committed by a company.

Even if you’re a small company with just a couple of employees there is no way that you can be a 100% sure that your staff are carrying out their duties within the requirements of the law. If acts of bribery are discovered think of the reputational and financial damage that you and your company are likely to suffer.

The Bribery Act doesn’t require you to spend lots of money and devote unreasonable amounts of time to ensure your company is fully compliant. There is a statutory defence if your company can show it has ‘adequate procedures’ in place to prevent persons associated with it from engaging in acts of bribery.

One way you can show that your company has genuinely put ‘adequate procedures’ in place to prevent bribery is for your staff to undertake training. Lombard Chambers’ online anti-bribery training is a cost effective way of implementing a compliance programme and minimising the risk of bribery. By undertaking training you and your staff will be better placed to manage the fallout if an instance of bribery were to be discovered.

Even if you make anti-bribery training within your company a compulsory requirement this is no guarantee that acts of bribery won’t happen. But the fact that you have taken these steps means that you may avoid prosecution, especially if you can demonstrate that the act of bribery was an isolated incident. However, it is clear that the more prevalent bribery is within your company, the greater the risk of prosecution.

I suppose you can say to yourself, “well I am the company owner so if I discover my staff are involved in bribery I’ll keep it under wraps”. Be aware that any company or individual that decides against a disclosure to the authorities runs the risk of exposing company itself to criminal investigations.

A demo of Lombard Chambers’ Bribery Act Compliance Training can be found on our website. Don’t delay. Contact Lombard Chambers today to ensure your company is fully compliant with the Bribery Act.

Today we see the collapse of the UK’s biggest trial of ex-police officers after the judge at Swansea Court said they could not get a fair hearing. The case follows the murder of Cardiff prostitute Lynette White in 1988. Gregory Bull QC of Lombard Chambers and barrister of Former Chief Inspector Thomas Page, one of the of the eight South Wales Police officers accused of perverting the course of justice after the wrongful conviction of three men for murder, said on BBC News:

“We are delighted that, after six-and-a-half years of being on police bail, the innocence of Mr Page has been firmly established.

“We always contended that there was insufficient evidence against him.

“The last six-and-a-half years have been the most traumatic years in his life.

“After 31 years as a police officer who received 26 commendations during his service, he felt bitterly let down by the manner of his arrest and the process that he has been put through.”

Mr Bull added: “I would call for an inquiry into the way in which this investigating team has conducted itself.

“I would also call for an investigation into the way in which the independent police authority for Wales has also involved itself far too closely, in my judgment with the ongoing investigation.”