Marketing Manager, ARMC Partners
- The former chief of staff to the President of Madagascar and her associate were charged in August 2023 after requesting substantial sums of money in exchange for securing a mining venture for the Madagascan government
- They attempted to solicit a bribe from Gemfields who specialise in the mining of rubies and emeralds by approaching them through an introductory agent before organising an in person meeting.
- However, this was prevented from progressing any further after Gemfields reported them for corruption to the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) and resulted in the NCA investigating their behaviour
- The pair were sentenced to a combined jail time of 5 years and 9 months this month.
- The audio clips exposed that the pair wanted 250,000 Swiss Francs for organising an invitation from the Madagascan President to initiate the collaboration and ensure that the joint venture terms were signed, as well as a 5% equity stake in the venture as a “success fee” and a 10,000 Swiss Francs goodwill payment.
- They created a firewall to distance the bribery payments from Gemfields to ensure that the company's reputation wouldn’t be affected in the case of a potential scandal
- The clips also exposed that they used a Swiss company called Fiduciare to receive illegal funds
Bribery and Corruption is a type of financial crime. They are also money laundering predicate crimes. In developing your AML/CFT compliance framework, compliance officers must ensure that they evaluate and assess the bribery and corruption risks in each country in which their business operates.
One of the tools you can use to do this is the 2023 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index.
At ARMC, we offer anti-bribery and corruption training for boards and executives, senior managers and all staff roles where required. To request a training brochure, please email [email protected].
Partner at Strategia Worldwide and Managing Director at Russell Philips Limited
9 个月Thanks for sharing this article - it shines a light on an often overlooked aspect of financial crime and highlights some of the shadier practices that continue to endure in some parts of the World.
Thanks for sharing this article. It raises some very Important Compliance issues that international investors should be aware of. US Anti-Bribery and Corruption Regulations in the form of FCPA Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has long extra-jurisdictional reach so if you are a US corporate involved in Bribery and Corruption anywhere in Africa, for example this law can hit you. So well for sharing.
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