(Anti-Bribery Management System/ABMS = ISO 37001:2016)
2.0 LEADERSHIP
Leadership is not limited only to the executive and top management, but it should also include the Head of Departments, Supervisors, Immediate Superiors, Administrative positions and equivalent.
All levels of leadership must have a sense of strong commitment to uphold the requirements of Anti-Bribery Management System (ABMS)
Governing body
The standard mentions the phrase "governing body". In this context, it refers to a special committee formed by the organization. To ensure impartiality, it is recommended that this special committee should function as independent commission with minimal intervention by the executive and top management. The committee should comprise of nominated member(s) of the Board of Directors (BOD), external civil servant from the authorities such as Anti Corruption Agency or Institute of Governance or equivalent, legal practitioner, Auditor (both internal and external) Management Representative etc.
The duties and responsibilities of the "governing body" is to approve the ABMS policy and ensuring its' consistency with other organizational policies, plans, manual, procedures etc., review and approve report on ABMS status after a certain cut-off period. Resources; as far as is practicable; such as laptops, online/communication and network facilities, work station etc are to be provided to facilitate their work such as risk assessments, recommendations on the type of documented information required, protection of whistleblowers etc.
Cooperation and Effective Communication taking into account transparency are to be taken seriously into account.
In the absence of a governing body (which is not recommended to minimize partiality), the top management shall assume the duties of the body.
Policy
A policy should be made to address the seriousness of bribery, compliance to the anti-bribery laws, setting/reviewing/achieving ABMS (measurable) objectives (department/unit), whistleblowing protection and commitment to provide resources/review/continual improvement of the policy.
As other certification standards requirement, the policy to be available at all times (usually also included in the ABMS Manual) - including stakeholders, communicated (and translated if necessary where the English or native language shall prevail in case of ambiguity) and/or displayed.
Roles, Responsibilities and Authorities
Top management shall be responsible to implement and comply with ABMS. Thus, responsibilities and authorities (usually by means of Job Description) and ABMS
Objectives to be assigned and communicated throughout the organization. If there is a governing body, they are to adopt a check and balance approach with the top management.
Anti-Bribery Compliance Function
a) Design/Implementation of ABMS,
b) Advice/counsel/guide to personnel involved in ABMS,
c) To comply to the ABMS requirements
d) Reporting ABMS performance to the governing body
All 3 significant parts of the organization namely governing body, top management and the leadership function shall have the necessary competence (by means of training if necessary), status, authority and independence. (These are also rules to good governance practice)
Access to to be made to the governing body/top management should there be any concerns raised (red and yellow flags/alert) on evidence, suspicion, investigation or issues on the ABMS itself.
Delegated Decision-Making
Delegation of authority is also linked to the Job Description. The governing body, top management and the personnel involved should be aware of their respective authorities. There should be a set of controls to address decision process and authority level of decision making. Decision making should take into account the possibility of conflict of interest, impartiality and independence. Again the role of independent governing body is important to ensure the "check and balance" process running smoothly
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