Page 10 - CORRUPTION LATAM

MONTT GROUP MAGAZINE - 2024
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Colombia in 2016, always hand in hand with a disclaimer clause for the corporate group that has previously implemented an effective compliance program.
The principal origin of this concept is found in the United States when, as a result of multiple corruption scandals in 1977, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (Fcpa) was approved, the “mother” of compliance and the inspiring rule to date of European and Latin American regulations, to the point that some experts see compliance as the great solution to the evils of corporate crime.
interest in compliance programs
The emergence of these initiatives began not only with pressure from international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (Oecd) or the Financial Action Task Force (Fate), but also with the widespread discovery of cases of major corruption, such as the scandals of Petrobras in Brazil and the construction company Odebrecht throughout the Region, which managed the crime in a corporate manner. Also what happened in Argentina with the German multinational Siemens and in the same country the appearance of the so-called the “Bribery Notebooks”, by former President Cristina Kirchner; the orders of imprisonment of six Presidents in less than 30 years accused of corruption in Peru; the million-dollar case involving former ministers, parliamentarians and leaders of Evo Morales’ party in Bolivia; the Hemophilia Cartel and the Embezzlement of Ecopetrol in Colombia and, to name another, the case of “The White House”, a journalistic investigation that indicated that the President’s wife had purchased a luxury property from a business group in exchange for millioners contracts with the government.
The corruption at certain times was so blatant that when it became public, citizens were stunned and took to the streets to shout for the resignation of their Heads of Government, as happened with the Lava Jato case in Brazil.
recoveringintegrity
Faced with this panorama, between the pressure of international organizations and that of the citizens of the affected countries themselves, the legislators of the respective countries were forced to proceed to the issuance of a series of laws that served as a basis and that today are leading to compliance, which may be limited compared to European standards, but that is a concept that, according to experts, would be saving the situation and confronting, in a certain way, corruption. Analysts estimate that business regulatory compliance is the only thing that is keeping it at bay and that will allow countries to recover, although gradually, a certain degree of integrity through regulations with incentives for organizations to self-regulate and control risk of committingcrimes.
Matteson Ellis, leader of the anti-corruption practice in Latin America at the law firm Miller & Chevalier, founded in Washington in 1920, maintains that little by little in the Region: “More companies have developed sophisticated elements of compliance programs and experience tells us that once they are started they are likely to be maintained in the long term.”
According to surveys conducted by the same international law firm, more and more companies are adopting corporate compliance programs, which is improving the business environment, including nations where there is total government indifference regarding this issue.
According to surveys carried out by Miller & Chevalier, the companies that lead in compliance are multinationals at 91 percent, while local organizations do so at 72 percent on average throughout the Region. As a result of this reality, Miller & Chevalier reports that fewer and fewer organizations are losing business regarding corrupt competition from local or regional organizations.
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