Anti-fraud and
Anti-corruption Policy
Introduction
At BIA we have developed this Anti-corruption policy in order to provide the Board of Directors, Senior Management, partners, business associates and third parties with an official document that outlines our commitment fighting corruption.
This policy is a crucial component of our Compliance Program, which seeks to ensure that everyone can fulfill their job responsibilities without legal, financial and reputational risk.
Objectives
This policy aims to define the limits within which our partners, Senior Management and Board members, as well as business associates and third parties, must act in order to protect the organization and its employees.
The policy includes, but is not limited to, these specific objectives:
- Promoting a culture of ethics and values that helps prevent, detect, investigate and mitigate the risks of corruption.
- Complementing the Anti-bribery Management System (AMS), which aims to combat risks of corruption, including bribery, fraud, extortion, misappropriation, etc. in all its forms and manifestations.
- Defining criteria, outreach, limits and responsibilities of this policy and the consequences of its breach.
- Maintaining financial controls designed to secure the financial books and statements, showing the underlying transactions in detail and precisely.
Outreach:
Ethical culture and awareness:
Zero tolerance to corruption:
Board members and Senior Management’s commitment and leadership:
Hospitality and donations:
Any type of donation (either in money or in kind) has to be approved by Corporate Affairs and Compliance through the Compliance site.
Donations to Entities or Public Officials:
- Do not offer, promise or make any donation, gift or courtesy to any Public Official whose entity is responsible of the permit management, licenses or any type of authorization that might affect the company, directly or indirectly.
- Do not offer, promise or make any donation to Public Entities or Public Officials, except after natural disasters.
- Do not offer, promise or make any donation, gift or courtesy, such as tickets to events or invitations to Public Officials, to take advantage for the Official’s own or familiar benefit.
- Do not offer gifts or donations to Public Officials as an incentive in exchange for or as a reward for granting an application, passing products through custom offices or giving any potential undue advantage for the company.
- Follow the procedure and get the established authorization at the Compliance site.
Donations to Private Entities (Cooperatives, Nonprofit Associations, etc.):
- The organization is directed to the welfare of the community or has humanitarian purposes.
- The donor follows procedure and has received authorization at the Compliance site.
Hospitality and courtesies:
- Promotional activities or for an existing contract operational cost.
- Reasonable expenses. Not luxurious or extravagant.
- Recorded expenses.
- Permitted by the local law.
- Not carried out secretly or with the appearance of impropriety.
- Notify the Compliance site about the expense.
Financial inputs to political groups:
Facilitation payments:
Gifts and other considerations:
Partners can’t accept gifts, dinner invitations, trips or any type of care from our clients and prospects, suppliers, public officials or any third party who could compromise the capacity to take objective commercial decisions.
The rules to accept gifts are:
- That the invitations, trips or seminars and commercial meetings are authorized by the Director or Corporate VP.
- That the gifts are delivered during special occasions and do not exceed the price limit of the Ethics Code.
- Any doubt or exception will have to be approved by the Compliance site.
Third Parties:
TPVs (Touch Point Vendors):
Hiring former public officials:
Records:
A system of internal controls is required, where the transactions can be reflected and reported appropriately, precisely and with reasonable details on the accounting books and records of the company.
The finance area will identify within its chart of accounts the “sensitive” or “Compliance Sensitive Transactions” or “CST”, having to continuously monitor those accounts.
The contractors shall comply the accountability provisions, books, records and provisions of internal control covered by the Applicable Anti-corruption Laws.
Ethical Line:
The access to the Ethical Line is by telephone numbers open for each of the countries in which we operate, e-mail and web site, as described in the Ethics Code.
Those who report any misconduct, and those who participate on the research, are protected from reprisals. The company prohibits and punishes any type of reprisal against complainants or partners of the investigation procedure, even with dismissal. The disciplinary sanction will be based on the Ethics Code, Employment Contract, Internal Labor Regulations and Rules on Disciplinary Sanctions.
Roles and Responsibilities:
The Board of Directors is committed to promoting a preventative culture against corruption at strategic and operational levels.
Senior Management will implement control measures to ensure prevention process and corruption risk mitigation, and there will be regular reviews to determine if possible risk has emerged.
The Compliance Department, with Legal Management’s support, is responsible of developing and tracking the Anti-bribery Management System and ensuring the effectiveness of the Compliance Program. It is also responsible of the research, track, administration and actualization of the incidents reported on the Ethics Line until the end of the researched cases, and will inform the Ethics Committee promptly.
The Management Department will assist on the outreach and awareness of this policy to all partners.
The Internal Audit Department is responsible of assessing the effectiveness and fulfillment of this Anti-corruption Policy.
Each partner is responsible of applying the criteria stablished on the policies and procedures, and will have to act in line with the corporate values and guidelines established in the Ethics Code.
Risks:
a. Financial risks:
- Misappropriation of Assets and Accounting Fraud in favor of employees or the organization.
- Financial losses in favor of employees or third parties, for goods or services not yet provided or received in different quality.
- Unfair negotiations with suppliers that support the increase in the business’ costs and expenses.
- Increase in costs and expenses due to theft of products through unauthorized mechanisms.
b. Operational risks:
c. Compliance risks:
d. Risk on reputation:
e. Risk of corruption:
Sanctions:
Any breach of this policy and its related procedures will be subject to disciplinary measures that have to be applied to the employees who have committed the offense directly or by default.
The sanctions will depend on the magnitude of the offense and will be governed by each country’s laws and the internal work regulations.
Ethics articles
Code
from our CEO
Anti-corruption Policy