Graham Hand
Anti-corruption campaigner Graham Hand says we need to lose our superiority complex.
The recent and very necessary CIOB report Corruption in the UK Construction Industry 2013, tells us that dishonesty is still commonplace in this country, at least in the construction sector.
That is something we should be ashamed of. There are very many thoroughly honest and ethical British businesses, but I hope the law enforcement agencies will make an example of any company they find using bribery and other corrupt practices.
And companies that do this are in for a shock when they are caught, because they will be liable to an unlimited fine under the Bribery Act 2010 unless they can show that the board of directors had done everything possible through good policies, procedures and training to ensure it should not have happened.
I really wonder how many businesses are just ignoring the threat this poses – if the police arrive at your premises one morning and take away your computers, it is way too late to start thinking about what you should have done to change your business model. And even if you are already running an honest business, you need to protect yourselves from the act of a rogue member of staff, just as you would from a burglar.
Read related story: Construction fraud costs clients and contractors billions
But although there are obviously dishonest and unethical people in business, I believe that poor procurement systems and poor contract management in construction are just as much to blame, especially at the local level.
If there is an opportunity to be dishonest, some people will be tempted to take it, so why are we not training procurement officials better, and putting in place transparent systems that will reduce the chance of people finding the space to be corrupt? The government should be setting standards in this area and ensuring that they are met, but as far as I know they are doing nothing.
To be charitable, if government ministers think about corruption at all, they probably think it is simply a law and order issue – but isn’t it far better to prevent crime than to have to investigate and prosecute it?
The then home secretary, Jack Straw told me when the Bribery Act was still under discussion that he didn’t necessarily want anyone to be prosecuted under it – he wanted to change behaviours. I liked that and I still do, but unless action is taken to educate everyone involved, behaviour is not going to change and this problem is not going to go away.
But for me there is another and completely different angle to all this. The CIOB report demonstrates just how misplaced is the casual British arrogance about how much better we supposedly are than everyone else in the world. We are simply not better. We have good characteristics and bad ones, like any nation, and we can learn a lot from people and countries around the globe.
It is this myth of superiority which leads us to believe that the European Court of Human Rights is the work of Satan, and that immigrants are only coming here to steal our jobs and defraud our benefits system. In fact, British business needs immigration to bring in the skills we need to fuel the economic recovery… But don’t get me started.
Graham Hand is coordinator of the UK Anti-Corruption Forum, an industry-led initiative to work against corruption in British business. He is also a director of GSH Consulting, specialising in anti-corruption systems [email protected]
Many thanks Graham for an interesting article. The CIOB is unique in carrying out this research in construction. Most seem to want to ignore it as an issue.
Incidentally the demonised European Court of Human Rights has had three British Presidents, more than any other nation – the French twice and others only once. So whose hand is the hand of Satan?
I have always seen a link between fraud, corrupt activities and poor contract management to the extent that the later is deliberate to facilitate the two former. This is more true in the part of the world where I live – the developing world.
Additionally the wholesale introduction of procurement experts who in most cases do not understand construction procurement processes has added yet another layer for fraudulent and corrupt activities in the sector. I am still talking about my part of the world.
Introduction of technical audits will go a long way in controlling this.
Dear Bwalya
While you are right about the link of poor contract management to corruption and fraud, unfortunately you are wrong about its presence limited to developing countries. In matured economies and in big mining companies especially such practices are rife at all levels but somehow condone or even covered up for fears of public outrage and its impact on share prices. Corrective actions are always hush hush and come too late – another reason why the same culprits carry on in their next gigs even when caught out. The more things change the more they remain the same.