Last Friday, July 27, 2018, the Superintendence of Corporations issued the “Practical Guide to Understanding the Fight against International Bribery in Colombia,” with a view to ensuring that national and international companies domiciled in our country prevent and fight against corrupt business practices.
In this regard, the Superintendent of Companies, Francisco Reyes Villamizar, stated that “the entity has put in place a strict business ethics plan to combat illegal practices such as bribery or bribery by companies domiciled in Colombia, which offer or give benefits to public officials abroad, to take advantage in bids or contracts with public entities“.
The main objective of the Guide is to provide information to companies on the type of behavior that constitutes international bribery, so that they can, from the point of view of self-regulation, adopt better prevention practices within their internal structures. In the same way, the Supersociedades intends with this instrument that the companies denounce the conducts and cooperate with the former to investigate and punish those responsible.
The following behaviors stand out:
“Cash payments: refers to the delivery of sums of money to servers foreign public as compensation for the commission of conduct related to international bribery.
-Payment of entertainment expenses: It implies disbursements made by the legal entity to the foreign public servant for travel or any type of entertainment, without having a direct relationship with the goods or services hired by the State to which the official belongs.
-Delivery of gifts: includes objects of pecuniary value that the legal entity promises or delivers to the foreign public servant, without these being directly related to the goods or services hired by the State to which such official belongs.
-Political contributions: covers payments in cash or in kind that the legal entity makes to political campaigns in the foreign country, without having direct relation to the goods or services contracted by the State to which such official belongs. “[1]
The issuance of this Guide is done within the framework established by Law 1778 of 2016, Anti-bribery Law, by means of which the Superintendence of Companies was given the power to investigate and punish the companies that incur in this type of behavior. of corporate corruption with fines of up to 200,000 legal monthly minimum wages in force, that is, $ 156,000,000,000,000,000,000 pesos, and inability to contract with the Colombian State for up to 20 years, among other punitive measures.
Download the guide in pdf version
[1]Quotation taken from the website of the Superintendence of Companies. Retrieved on July 30, 2018, available at: https://www.supersociedades.gov.co/Noticias/Paginas/2018/Supersociedades-exige-a-compa%C3%B1%C3%ADas-adoptar-controles-adecuados-contra-el-soborno-internacional.aspx
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