In this week's post, Nelvin Tam discusses the latest
on Formula One president Bernie Ecclestone's bribery scandal,
and the implications for the corruption and fraud risk management
industry.
'If you think compliance is expensive, try
noncompliance.'
As the former US Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty succinctly
put it, many companies are reluctant to implement a compliance
framework due to its perceived high costs. However, the cost of not
complying with the rules and regulations could potentially be even
more - see, for example, the USD 1.3 billion Siemens settlement in
2008.
Bernie Ecclestone (widely known as the boss of Formula One)
would know this cost in first person. He was charged in Germany
with bribing former Bayern LB Chief Risk Officer Gerhard Gribkowsky
USD 44 million to facilitate a sale of the bank's 47% stake in
Formula One to parties favourable to Mr Ecclestone in 2006. Despite
Mr Gribkowsky being convicted of taking a bribe and sentenced to
