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Corruption is not just a problem of individuals or errant companies

We refer to the report, “Keppel O&M corruption case a black eye for Singapore Inc” (Dec 27) and wish to highlight the negative effects of the corrupt practices of Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) on human rights and development.

REUTERS file photo

REUTERS file photo

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Leong Sze Hian, President, Maruah

We refer to the report, “Keppel O&M corruption case a black eye for Singapore Inc” (Dec 27) and wish to highlight the negative effects of the corrupt practices of Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) on human rights and development.

Based on details released by the United States Department of Justice, the company paid US$55 million (S$74 million) in bribes to Brazilian state-owned oil company Petrobras, Sete Brasil and to Partido dos Trabalhadores, the then-governing political party in Brazil. But it now has to pay a fine of US$422.2 million, as part of a global resolution with the authorities in the US, Brazil and Singapore, and it has also taken disciplinary action against 17 current and former employees.

In Brazil, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was recently sentenced to nearly 10 years’ jail for corruption, as part of a huge ongoing corruption investigation involving companies overcharging Petrobras via cartels, then bribing Petrobras officials who facilitated such contracts, who in turn paid bribes to politicians, who retained those Petrobras officials.

Human rights group Maruah is deeply disturbed by the blatant corruption of Keppel O&M, that it disregards Singapore’s long-held stance against corruption, and by Keppel’s own ineptitude as a company to maintain a business and human rights role model practice as a government-linked multi-national company.

We are also bewildered with the action taken by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC). It issued only a conditional warning to Keppel O&M on a corruption scandal of this scale, based on Keppel O&M cooperating with US investigations and that its subsidiary company had pleaded guilty to violations.

What will then entail prosecution in Singapore’s courts when a Singapore-based or Singapore-owned company commit bribery in other countries to gain business opportunities?

It is disappointing that a government-linked company carried out such corrupt practices, violating the core principles of transparency, accountability, and non-discrimination, and contributing part of the damage to the people of Brazil.

The consequences of corruption are multi-faceted and have an impact on all human rights: Civil, political, economic, social and cultural, as well as the right to development, as can be seen in Brazil’s poor development status — a result of years of corruption.

We urge our Government to approach corruption as a systemic problem rather than a problem of individuals or errant companies.

We need to incentivise companies to follow the guidelines of the Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau, comply with the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, encourage more companies to comply with ISO 37001 that specifies requirements and provides guidance for establishing, implementing, maintaining, reviewing and improving anti-bribery management.

We also ask that the Government enforces key fundamentals of transparency, thorough investigations, high levels of accountability through public reporting mechanisms, a judiciary, and the protection of human rights and their development as a core principle to be anti-corrupt.

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