ANTI CORRUPTION OF COMPANY D.
How to fix the corruption in the company, especially in multinationals companies. We, Aplus Law, are proud to successfully advise clients on anti-corruption and corporate internal compliance
[MAIN CONTENT]
The famous Group in Korea named Dream I. specializing in the field of apparel has a subsidiary in Vietnam, when opening this company in Vietnam, the parent company appointed Mrs. Lim M.O. acting as the legal representative at the subsidiary company and also as the CEO at the subsidiary.
After many years of operation in Vietnam, the production situation of this subsidiary is very good because the skills of Vietnamese workers are high, meeting the production requirements of the parent company. The Group fully trusts in the management of Mrs. Lim. During the operation, Ms. Lim often reports “under table fee” to state officials and of course, these expenses are not documented, with the explanation that in Vietnam, the government is so corrupt, so doing everything must be “bribes “, the Group in Korea was also worried, but because of the good situation of production workers and the amount of “ bribes expense” outside the books is not too large, even the Corporation also asked the lawyer about whether or not the status must be “ under table fee “, the asked lawyer answered yes and also commented that themselves still have to “have a relationship” to work. That is why the Group ignored such incidents and focused on business. However, more and more, although many years have passed, the society is more developed and civilized, but the situation of “ under table fee ” is increasing more and more.
Realizing a financial abnormality, the Group appointed personnel to a subsidiary and learned:
- Ms. Lim creates a power system throughout the company, all employees and workers are afraid and follow her direction, even if there are violations of the law.
- Mrs. Lim made a lot of false expenses to increase the company’s costs: The cost of raw materials in coordination with the distributors to make the false statements in order for the company to spend more and Ms. Lim and her accomplices to take the difference amount; money to buy food for employees, money to repair factories and offices; money to buy equipment, tools, etc., all overstated to increase the amount to take advantage of the extra money.
- There is even a case of sending the relatives of a subordinate employee to set up a “virtual” company, these companies sign contracts with a subsidiary to take the money.
At the time of inspection, the Group discovered that the contract was shorted to lose revenue for the company estimated more than 500,000 USD
The investigation process was difficult because, over the years, Ms. Lim had mastered and even understood what evidence needed to be deleted and which testimony to give.
Consequences for the company: For many years, the above behavior took place, so the working of the whole system of subsidiaries with dishonest personnel, the company is at risk of loss and especially the entire system has to be changed personnel at the subsidiary, change all material suppliers, change the whole team of lawyers because they cannot continue to put their trust in lawyers who also practice fraud and abet false statements. In short, the company is in danger of being “broken” just because the top management embezzles the company’s assets.
[LEGAL ISSUES]
Acts such as Attorneys must “lubricating”, business executives must “under the table” are all acts that have signs of constituting Embezzlement (Article 353), Giving bribes (Article 364), Taking bribes (Article 354) is defined in the Penal Code 2015
[ATTORNEY’S SOLUTION]
In the above cases, when the Group discovered it, the matter was too serious, the subsidiary was facing a lot of problems with losses, the human resource system was corrupt, and the suppliers could not be trusted, even at the risk of becoming accomplices in cases of Giving bribes.
- Building an ANTI-CORRUPTION legal framework to ensure the company’s operations in the future:
- Establish a system of regulations, disseminate regulations related to the COMPANY’s ANTI-CORRUPTION POLICY for employees and all suppliers of the company.
- Changing the operating mechanism, building a monitoring system: Adding personnel to cross-check transactions; An independent lawyer who properly practices law is the Supervisor of the company’s transactions.
- Consulting investors to change company personnel.
- Solving the consequences of corruption:
- Collect evidence to prove the crime, report the crime to the investigating agency.
- Assess the ability to affect the brand value of the company as well as the company’s stock price.
- In case there is a risk of forced dissolution or bankruptcy, then find a way to transfer the capital of the company to other investors.
[SOME NOTES]:
- When an Attorney expresses clearly or just expresses his will implicitly that he must be “under the table”, must bridge to complete the case, immediately refuse to cooperate with him because:
- The behavior of the lawyer representing the client, so that if they commit a crime, the Client may also be at risk of becoming an accomplice.
- Cooperating with a lawyer is the first important thing, the wrong first Step will have a great risk of causing unpredictable consequences like the above cases.
- Despite having more experience and outstanding financial position than domestic investors, when foreign investors invest in Vietnam, investors maybe still fail because one of the main reasons is that they cannot control risks good management of fraud and corruption in enterprises.
[THE TRUST IN APLUS LAW]:
- We fully understand how serious the effects of corruption can be on business operations. The consequences that it leaves are sometimes irreversible like the typical cases we have mentioned.
- [Aplus Law] knows how to practice properly to bring sustainable value for clients.
- [Aplus Law] will help clients eliminate legal risks and enjoy life-long legal peace of mind.
- Only can cooperate with Attorney who BELIEVES- UNDERSTAND – KNOW HOW TO DO THE RIGHT, then the Clients can build a strong team to develop the company in a sustainable way.
- Attorneys of Aplus Law have over 10 years of experience in practicing law in the right way, we are confident to bring good value to each client that we accompany.
#Fight The Corruption- Up The New Value!