The Trouble with Leadership: Theories of Good and Troubled Leadership and their Ethical Implications (original) (raw)
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Loss of Integrity: the True Failure of the Corporate Sector
Despite the introduction of legislation and corporate governance standards designed to promote business integrity, prosecution of the directors of many companies for fraud and other offences has continued. This paper describes the changing environment in which the members of the boards of companies operate, and their legal duties and responsibilities. The authors illustrate the traps for, and liabilities of, directors with reference to vignettes of three corporate investigations, Enron, HIH and more recently Opes Prime. This paper argues that, in many instances, the failures of the corporate sector were due to loss of integrity by the major actors. Whether this was related to a belief in their invulnerability, or whether a climate of fraud was seen as acceptable hard-nosed business practice is a moot point. An alternative point, that the collapses could be mediated by ignorance, or by malice, is a critical point, and one deserving of further investigation.
THE ROLE OF POLITICALLY EXPOSED PERSON IN MONEY LAUNDERING , 2024
INTRODUCTION Over the past 25 years, the whole world has learned about the gross abuses of corrupt “politically exposed persons” (PEPs), and through outrageous examples, the way in which they plunder state assets, extort and accept bribes, and use domestic and international financial systems to launder their stolen assets. In this paper PEPs include individuals who are, or have been, entrusted with prominent public functions and their family members and close associates. We do not know the amount of public assets stolen or extorted by prominent public office holders—referred to as grand corruption—and mostly laundered through financial institutions, in particular, through banks. Attempts to estimate the sums of money being laundered are hindered by the fact that it is a mostly hidden crime for which accurate statistics are unavailable. At the same time, the “guesstimates” available on overall corruption and bribery offenses help to give an idea of the order of magnitude: The World Bank estimates that more than 1trillionispaidinbribeseachyear.1Theproceedsofcorruptionstolenfromdevelopingcountriesalonerangesfrom1 trillion is paid in bribes each year.1 The proceeds of corruption stolen from developing countries alone ranges from 1trillionispaidinbribeseachyear.1Theproceedsofcorruptionstolenfromdevelopingcountriesalonerangesfrom20 billion to $40 billion per year—roughly equivalent to the annual GDP of the world’s 12 poorest countries where more than 240 million people live.2 Grand corruption, asset theft, and international flows of stolen and laundered money have an insidious and devastating impact on development. They degrade and undermine confidence in public institutions. They taint and destabilize financial systems, affecting trust. They damage the victim country’s investment climate and prospects for macroeconomic stability. This fuels capital flight impedes growth and poverty reduction efforts, and heightens inequalities. These damages are long-lasting and become more severe the longer a corrupt regime is in place.3 In all jurisdictions, political will at the highest levels is critical to fighting corruption and denying corrupt PEPs access to the financial system. The ways in which corrupt PEPs launder their ill-gotten gains repeat and evolve. In the beginning, corrupt heads of state and prominent public officials banked in their own names in foreign jurisdictions or used relatives to open bank accounts. Current techniques continue to include abuse of bank facilities, but also the buying of real estate; the purchase and movement abroad of precious metals, jewels, and art work; and the physical cross-border movement of currency and negotiable instruments.4 The use of close associates and corporate vehicles has been and remains a vexing problem. Ultimately most of the methods involve, at least in some way, the use of financial institutions, particularly banks, in the laundering of ill-gotten funds. In addition to the early efforts of some governments, the international community made valuable commitments to address these pressing challenges. The United Nations Convention against Corruption was concluded in 2003. The same year, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) reviewed its Forty Recommendations to include standards that specifically target the laundering of the proceeds of corruption. We applaud those efforts and welcome the steps taken by several public agencies (including investigative and prosecutorial agencies), regulatory authorities, and banks to translate these commitments into practice. The reality, however, is that the distance between international commitment and visible effective action and impact remains wide. Steps taken have not been commensurate with the size and urgency of the challenge. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, an international body of banking supervisors that formulates broad supervisory standards and guidance for implementation by its members, made plain the drawbacks of insufficient action for the international financial system as early as 2001: [I]t is clearly undesirable, unethical and incompatible with the fi t and proper conduct of banking operations to accept or maintain a business relationship if the bank knows or must assume that the funds derive from corruption or misuse of public assets. There is a compelling need for a bank considering a relationship with a person whom it suspects of being a PEP to identify that person fully, as well as people and companies that are clearly related to him/her. 5 Accepting and managing funds from corrupt PEPs will severely damage the bank’s own reputation and can undermine public confidence; in the ethical standards of an entire financial center, since such cases usually receive extensive media-attention and strong political reaction.
African Journal of Political Science
Generally, several factors around the corporate world influence different nations technologically, socially, economically, and politically. Specifically, this paper focuses on the African continent’s politics concerning corporate corruption, corporate governance, and ethical leadership. This study aims to critically reflect on and evaluate the significance of curbing and combating corruption, promoting governance and ethics in Africa, and furthering and practising those principles. It employed a case study research design with a random sampling approach. Secondary data was analysed using content analysis, incorporating a critical assessment of relevant in-depth literature reviews to attain the study objective. The study results revealed that: Unethical leaders succumb to corruption, causing Africa’s corruption to spiral out of control. Ethical leaders, on the other hand, resist corruption; African leaders and authorities should take steps to fight corruption through ethics and governance; African corporations have become increasingly corrupt; corporate governance and ethical leadership have declined in Africa; African politicians have uncurbed power to advance their private gains, and finally, African leaders need to change their mindsets and cultures to achieve economic growth. This study emphasises and reiterates the importance of dealing effectively with corporate corruption and advancing governance and ethics to benefit the African population and the continent. It further provides a broad and deeper understanding of corruption, ethics, and governance. The conceptual, strategic model provided by this study may be selected and used by African leaders, authorities, boards of directors, shareholders, and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), as a tool to address corruption in African organisations and institutions.
Corporate Fraud, Corruption, and Financial Malfeasance
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Corporate failures and financial crisis in the early 21st century generated an increased awareness of the pervasiveness of corporate corruption, fraud, and financial malfeasance. In addition to the tremendous financial costs to society and the loss of public confidence in corporations and social institutions, corporate wrongdoing adversely effects corporations by undermining profits, morale, and trust. Understanding contemporary corporate corruption, fraud, and financial malfeasance requires an examination of the extent to which historical variation in organizational, political-legal, and ideology arrangements affect opportunities for managers to engage in these behaviors. These components of the social structure are not mutually exclusive but are part of a dynamic system that consists of many interconnected component parts. As a whole, the literature examined here suggests that the components of the formal and informal structure create incentives, motivations, and opportunities to ...
2021
Since the Global Financial Crises, there has been a series of corporate scandals in Australia and abroad. The subject of the scandals is poor corporate governance and the failure of regulators to hold corporations accountable for their misconduct. The succession of corporate scandals has undermined public confidence in banking and financial institutions, and more broadly, across many other industries. James Shipton has described this phenomenon as the ‘trust deficit’. The evidence of the misconduct that has diminished public trust in corporations was most recently reflected in the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking and, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (‘the Royal Commission' or the 'Report'). The instances of misconduct in the Royal Commission were in large ‘products of poor culture’. The respect for law and customers was undermined by ‘greed’ and the pursuit of short-term profit.
Corporate Culture Leadership and Fraud: The Case of the National Australia Bank
2020
The National Australia Bank (NAB), one of Australia's largest banks, announced losses in 2004 of AUD$360 million due to unauthorised foreign currency trading activities by four employees who incurred and deceptively concealed the losses. The NAB had in place risk limits and supervision to prevent trading desks ever reaching positions of this magnitude. However, the risk management policies and procedures proved ineffective. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the deceit, via a content analysis of official investigative reports and other published documents, to determine the extent to which the Bank's culture and leadership may have influenced the rogue traders' behaviour. The findings suggest that cultural issues, and the role played by the Bank's leaders, were influential in creating a profit-driven culture that ultimately impacted the Bank's foreign exchange operating activities.
Business corruption: cheating the system or using opportunities?
2010
Abstract: Corrupt behaviour in organisations involves individuals or groups of people behaving in ways that are outside usually accepted norms for the organisation and/or society at large. This may include influencing or coercing some members of the group to act in ways that are normally unacceptable to them. Such behaviour might be expected to cause stress to, or indeed be as a result of stress for, the individuals and groups concerned. By refusing to join in the corrupt behaviour of their group, such people risk being alienated ...
Corruption and Business Integrity: Law, Policy and Company Practices
"Since the 1990s the international community has become acutely aware of the role of businesses in the growth of corruption globally and the debilitating effects of corruption on economic growth and development. A multitude of strategies from regulation in the form of international legal instruments and self-regulation in the form of codes of conduct through to training of employees and involvement of NGOs and citizens in tackling corruption have emerged and these have been vociferously advocated by international organizations, chambers of commerce and NGOs. This article examines the extent to which these strategies have impacted on the policies and practices of businesses through a survey of companies listed in The Times (London) which included all industry sectors with the exception of banking and finance. The survey findings indicate that despite the huge efforts in devising and publicising anti-corruption strategies by the international community these strategies seem to have had limited impact on the policies and practices of companies."