Many of the complaints received by the Anti Corruption Commission since its inception in January 2010 have raised concerns over “a widespread abuse of access to confidential information”, according to Police Commissioner David Baines.
Speaking in his capacity as chairman of the Anti Corruption Commission at a seminar hosted by the Cayman Islands Compliance Association at the Westin last week, Mr. Baines cited an investigation that led to the arrest of an RCIPS officer who had allegedly solicited the Immigration department for information about an individual’s immigration status for his personal benefit.
That original arrest and the following investigation, Mr Baines said, “has brought a real shake-up within the law enforcement agencies because people started to see there has almost been an endemic misuse of information”.
As a result of that, he advised attendees of the CICA seminar on anti-corruption and bribery, “preventative measures are one issue that you might want to look at.” This would include the verification of data controls, access to information and whether the data can be used for anything other than its original purpose.
Data handling
While the case is still being taken forward, the “blasé nature” of how data is handled “is now starting to change and people have clearly understood that if you make misuse of that data, you will be arrested and you will face not only criminal charges, but you will also be losing your job,” Mr. Baines said.
Since January 2010 the Anti Corruption Commission has received 26 complaints alleging some form of corruption, according to Mr. Baines. Two of those cases were investigated and found not to be in contravention of the Anti Corruption Law, but they were still referred to other agencies because the latter were more appropriate to deal with the cases under disciplining standards or standard in public life.
Five case have been investigated and concluded without any evidence of a breach or suggestion that corruption was proven and six cases have been pended because there was insufficient evidence to prove or disprove an offence.
“So in reality we have 13 investigations that are currently ongoing,” Mr. Baines said.
UK Bribery Act
Also at the event former senior partner at Maples and Calder and former Monetary Authority chairman Tim Ridley outlined the effect of the UK Bribery Act on Cayman. The Act has an extraterritorial component and applies to UK or overseas territory passport holders and UK companies even if the offence takes place outside of the UK. The Act does not distinguish between private and public sectors. When comparing the UK Act to the Cayman Anti Corruption Law, Mr. Ridley said that the UK Bribery Act is perhaps more “benign” and more “narrowly drafted.”
“The Anti Corruption Law is something you need to worry about,” Mr. Ridley told the audience of compliance managers and company directors, specifically referring to the section “that can impose liability on a director or officer not simply because you consented or connived in the payment of a bribe by the company of which you are a director, but if the bribery by the corporate entity was attributable to your neglect.”
Mr. Ridley believes the section will be the gateway to imposing liability on senior officers and directors of Cayman companies.
While it is not certain that such a case will ever come before the Cayman courts, he said, “Prudence would suggest that just as companies are wrestling with [know your customer] and anti-money-laundering, that you also need to add to the list of things that your procedures should deal with adequate procedures to prevent bribery.”
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