“The Company’s directors, executives and staff members are prohibited from supporting corruption or accepting corruption of all sorts, for one’s own direct or indirect benefits, or for one’s family members, friends, acquaintances, regardless whether one is the receiver, giver or offer of the bribes; monetary or non-monetary, to individuals, government officers, government bodies or private sector organizations that deal businesses with the Company. This includes businesses of subsidiaries, associates or other companies with the authority, and the anti-corruption protocols must be strictly observed. The responsible party structure and risk management system should be established, as well as the internal control and internal audit systems to prevent and suppress dishonest acts or organizational corruption, as well as to review the practices and operational regulations to align with changes in the business, regulations and the laws.”
1. Risk Management
The Company has devised the corruption risk management initiative, starting from risk evaluation plan, identification of objectives, duties and responsibilities of relevant staff members, as well as the identification of risk evaluation criteria in writing, with reference to the “Corruption Risk Management Manual”. In this regard, the Company has evaluated potential risks that may cause financial and non-financial impact, with consideration of internal and external factors, as well as chances of incurring risks, in order to cover potential risks exposed to the Company, while at the same time devising the protocols to minimize the risks in case the existing internal control measures are insufficient.
2. Anti-Corruption Policy and Practices
The Company’s staff members must perform their duties with care, transparency and in accordance with the laws, to ensure clarity in the operations, especially for matters that involve high risks for corruption in different formats. So, the policy and practices have been identified as follows:
“The Company has devised the political support policy or Political Assistance and regards it as the Code of Business Conduct, with respect to the democratic system, and an emphasis on political neutrality, encouraging staff members to exercise their political rights as a good citizen. Financial support or offers in the form of assets, privileges or any other benefits as political support either directly or indirectly to politicians or political parties, as well as politicians’ representatives, shall be omitted, if it is for the Company’s interests, unless it is part of the democratic procedure executable by law.”
“The Company has devised the Conflicts of Interest Prevention Policy, which is regarded as the Business Code of Conduct that prevents directors, executives and staff members from taking opportunities by using one’s position to seek personal interests both direct and indirectly. Directors are prohibited from operating the business that competes with the Company and they should avoid inter-related transactions that may lead to conflicts of interest with the Company. In case of necessity, the Board of Directors should ensure that such transactions are transparent and fair, as if they are the transactions made with external parties. Directors or staff members who have potential losses or benefits in such transactions are prohibited from making consideration and approval”.
In case the inter-related transactions are under the announcement of the Securities and Exchange Office and the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the Board of Directors shall ensure and monitor that the criteria, procedures and disclosure of inter-related information of listed companies are strictly abided by.
The Board of Directors have devised the policy and executional procedures, with reference to the “Conflicts of Interest Practical Guidelines”.
“The Company has devised the Convenience Fees Policy that prohibits directors, executives, staff members and any employees from paying convenience fees to government officers in all cases, as this poses high risk for bribery, increasing business costs, defamation and violation of the anti-corruption policy”.
“The Company has devised the Government Officer Hiring Policy that the government officers to assume the director, executive and staff member positions or the Company’s consultants must go through the selection process, compensation package approval and control procedures to ensure that hiring government officers do not serve the purpose of returning any acquired benefits, as it may damage the credibility and honesty in performing duties, which may expose the Company to corruption risks.”
“The Company has devised the Charitable Donation Policy that it must be proven that the donation serves to aid the society and community. The donation must genuinely be for public charity, such donations must not influence business decisions and done with transparency with documented evidence for the donation, and not to serve as the excuse for giving or receiving bribes, or for corruption purposes. The company is no policy to accept donation in all circumstance.”
“The Company has devised the receiving and giving sponsorship Policy and regulates that the provision of sponsorship support must be provable that it serves to facilitate successful completion of the activity or the project, to promote the business, the Company’s brand, or to serve operational objectives, with genuine responsibility to the society in a transparent and lawful manner. It should not serve as the excuse for bribery, whereby approval procedures have been concisely determined, allowing for inspection and verification of the documented evidence.”
“The Company has devised the Gifts Hospitality and Reception Policy, whereby directors, executives, staff members and hired workers must not call for, receive or give gifts hospitality, host a reception, provide service or privileges of any kinds to persuade decisions or cause negligence of duties, or in ways that suggest giving or receiving bribes, either directly or indirectly, to individuals, government officers, government bodies, private sector organizations or related parties, unless as a gesture to express goodwill or relationship in a feasible manner; not too frequent, suitable for the occasion, with appropriate pricing or value and in accordance with the customs, not against the regulations, Code of Conduct, the Company’s rules and relevant laws.”
Reception or hospitality fees must be directly relevant to the activities that serve the Company’s business, for instance, transportation fees, accommodation fees, food and beverage, entertainment fees, sports and recreation fees. They should be related to the business or commercial tradition, or they should serve to provide an understanding on the business. The spending should be reasonable and does not affect decision making in work execution, cause negligence of duties or lead to conflicts of interest.
The Company has devised the policy concerning receiving gifts, complimentary items or other benefits from suppliers or relevant parties that the Company coordinates with on the Company’s behalf, unless receiving gifts is only for personal relationship and does not affect decision making or negligence of one’s duties. The Company is responsible for notifying outsiders of the mentioned gift policy, and staff members should observe the following practical guidelines.
Good corruption prevention protocols can minimize the chance of incurring corruption to a certain extent. However, it is necessary for the Company to develop protocols on detection of corruption in order to facilitate the process and report conducts that may induce corruption in a timely manner. Thus, the whistleblowing mechanisms have been devised as well as the reporting system to help the Company detect corruption early on. Moreover, in order to ensure that the corruption detection protocols are appropriate, effective and efficient, the Internal Audit Department will be conducting the audit on the internal control system on a regular basis, as follows:
The Company has arranged for credible and independent channels for filing complaints and whistleblowing in case of legal or ethical misconduct, violation of the anti-corruption policy or behaviors that may suggest dishonesty and inappropriate conduct of organizational members; staff members, executives and stakeholders. Everybody, either the Company’s staff members or outsiders, is allowed opportunities to provide clues, thus they are required to notify of the possibility of corruption via available channels. Punishment shall be exercised upon the person who is aware of the information or incident that may involve corruption but fails to notify the responsible parties. The Company has the measures on protecting whistleblowers, with mechanisms to protect providers of information, and emphasizes on keeping the complaints confidential, in order to build confidence for the complainants. Nevertheless, punishment will be exercised upon those who provide untrue information.
The Company has developed protocols on handling dishonesty and corruption to tackle the impact and identify methods to prevent dishonesty and corruption from taking place repititively. The protocols are comprised of the investigation, punishment, corrective measures and information disclosure
For more details, could study from the Anti-corruption Policy and Guidelines.