Anti-Corruption Policy as the Guiding Principle of the ICL Services Corporate Values Development

Thus, the most pervasive offences have been and remain passive and active bribery, as well as mediation in bribing a high-profile legal entity or individual. Due to the global scale of this situation and in order to maintain the internal corporate economic world, effective anti-corruption measures have been implemented not only in politics, but also in economy. In companies around the world, compliance with these measures has become mandatory both for managers and frontline employees. ICL Services has implemented an appropriate step-by-step process to resolve the issue. This major player in the Russian market of IT services proved that the enforcement of anti-corruption measures within the company, as well as in interactions with customers and partners, is the requirement of the modern global market system.

As one of the leading IT outsourcing companies in the world, ICL Services has aimed to pursue only the best global business practices from day one. The company has always been competing for customers located in more than 30 countries of the world fairly and transparently. In particular, the global experience in IT services provision has been instrumental in developing a consistent approach helping the company employees comply with the anti-corruption law in Russia and in customers’ countries. Therefore, it is not surprising that large-scale anti-corruption action has become one of the key areas of the company’s social responsibility policy.

Elaborated by the company’s specialists and compulsory for every employee, the ICL Services anti-corruption policy comprises the standards, guidelines, and protocols for interaction with government agencies, political parties and associations, as well as the provisions for the company’s charitable activities. It is worth noting that the foreign colleagues’ experience was foundational for development of the policy of zero tolerance for bribery and corruption.

The compliance manager, a designated company official supervises the corporate anti-corruption portal, maintains the operation of the corruption risk management system within the company, and also ensures protection of staff from potential threats and harassment. All employees undergo anti-corruption training which includes tests and are compulsorily informed of the concept of a «conflict of interest».

When it comes to the consequences of fraudulent activities, the first thing that springs to mind is financial loss, but in practice there are other business failures: loss or deterioration of corporate reputation which is critically important for both customers and competitors. Psychological climate cannot be overlooked either. For these reasons, ICL Services adheres to the anti-corruption principle in its operations and includes a compulsory clause of compliance with current anti-corruption legislation in all contract, since transparency in identifying fraudulent activities and provision of information to parties about the preventive measures help minimize or avoid damage.

Being aware of all the potential threats associated with economic and financial crime, ICL Services establishes an appropriate corporate culture not only for its employees, but also for its business partners. According to Sergey Solovyov, CEO of ICL Services, «corruption risk poses a real threat to business,» and therefore the company has been implementing a number of response policy measures for risk mitigation. For example, in order to create the conditions for fair competition in the IT services market, ICL Services conducts annual internal analysis of prospective suppliers, which allows to identifying whether the partner companies meet the prerequisites for productive cooperation.