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Managing the Impact of international anti-corruption legislation on Russian Operations

The round-table was held on 15th December in Moscow. Hosted by KPMG the round-table was organized by IBLF in partnership with KPMG and Baker & McKenzie. The round-table was a part of a series of events under the auspices of the Siemens Integrity Initiative (SII).  In attendance were about forty five representatives of major Russian and international companies working in Russia including ABB Russia, DuPont, GSK, GE, Hilti, Kinross Gold, MTS, TNK-BP, TNT, Philips, PwC, Siemens, Rosneft and other companies.

Over recent years, companies have had to consider the impact of international legislation such as the US’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act on their operations in Russia. In April 2011, the UK Bribery Act will come into force and is widely seen to be the most significant change to UK law in this area of business and commerce in many years. With extraterritorial scope, it will affect any company that has substantial business in the UK – including Russian companies. For more information about the law, see this BBC report. As a result, companies have to review their internal procedures and extend their compliance procedures to third parties. All levels of the company are involved in what will require a radical change of corporate culture.

At the round-table two of the most experienced British corporate lawyers working in Russia Paul Melling (Partner, Baker & McKenzie) and Sunwinder Mann (Partner, Baker & McKenzie) provided a detailed interpretation of the UK Bribery law and its impact on companies. Then one of the leading forensic auditors in Russia Ian Colebourne (Partner, Head of Risk and Compliance in Russia and CIS, KPMG) advised on minimum management and operational changes necessary for companies to ensure that they were adequately protected. Paul Maguire (Senior Vice President, Financial Controller, TNK-BP) presented the case of TNK-BP (necessary improvements to be done inside the company and challenges company meet).

After that companies exchanged their experience of how they were managing the necessary change.

Presentations

Paul Melling, Sanny Man, Baker&McKenzie

Ian Colebourne, KPMG