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News Monitoring: MIoD
Africamoney.info
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01 September 2015
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Corporate
Mauritius encourages whistle blowing to
combat corporate corruption
Mauritius is taking a firm step towards combating corporate corruption and
promoting business transparency through the Whistleblowing Council, a joint
initiative of the Mauritius Institute of Directors (MIoD) and Transparency Mauritius,
which proposes recommendations for the implementation of a law to that effect
under a recent paper entitled “Whistleblowing Mauritius.”
The Whistleblowing Council, a joint initiative of the Mauritius Institute of Directors (MIoD)
and Transparency Mauritius, has recently issued a concept paper entitled “Whistleblowing
Mauritius”, which proposes recommendations for the implementation of a law to that
effect. This document was handed over to Financial Services Secretary, Sudarshan
Bhadain.
The term ‘whistleblowing’ refers to the denunciation, by an employee or any other person,
of corruption, fraud, and illegal activities which could harm public interest.
Among its recommendations, the council proposes an amendment in the Companies Act
which would stipulate that companies have to establish a mechanism to record
denunciation in strict confidentiality and to act as a consequence of such information
disclosure.
“Whistleblowing is a fundamental tool to fight against corruption that would allow for
avoidance of numerous scandals, as well as their potential consequences, on the company.
The employees, among others, are the best placed to know how a company, an
organisation, a public institution or private entity reacts in terms of failure to respect laws.
However, these people fear reprisals upon triggering an alert and highlighting these
offences, wherefrom the importance of allowing whistleblowers to feel safe becomes critical
to securing their trust,” explains Jacques Dinan, president of the Whistleblowing Council.
The Whistleblowing Council also recommends the implementation of an Independent
Whistleblowing Service (IWS) which would have a key role to play in the management of
this practice in Mauritius.
The IWS’ role will be to make companies and employees sensitive to whistleblowing and to
establish procedures which would assure the anonymity and confidentiality of an
employee or any other person who decide to disclose a sensitive fact. The concept paper
also recommends that the IWS establishes a free calling service so that whistleblowers can
highlight offences in strict anonymity,” notes Rajen Bablee, director of Transparency
Mauritius.
The implementation of a law on whistleblowing will also have to consider the specificities
of the Mauritian legal system. It is necessary, besides, to consider the rules which apply
in such trials as well as already existing provisions in Employment Rights Act,
Employment Relations Act, the Penal code, the Civil code, the Prevention of Corruption
Act and the Constitution of Mauritius, among others.
“This concept paper follows upon the recent announcement of the Prime Minister on the
new measures against corruption and money laundering. We especially wish to open the
debate on the importance of whistleblowing and the possible implementation of laws on
this subject. Whistleblowing is part of international law since 2003, because it includes
an agreement against corruption which was ratified by 140 countries. The Whistleblowing
Council was moreover created because this practice is of major importance to support
principles of corporate good governance,” adds Jane Valls, CEO, MIoD.
Finally, it is to be noted that the Whistleblowing Council, which was created in 2014, aims
to make companies sensitive to whistleblowing and undertake research on best practices
to protect whistleblowers. The council was created following the signature of an agreement
between the MIoD and Transparency Mauritius.
http://africamoney.info/mauritius-encourages-whistle-blowing-to-combat-corporatecorruption/