DEALING WITH WHITE COLLAR CRIME

ESTABLISHING POLICY FOR DEALING WITH COMMERCIAL CRIME

MAIN PLANKS OF THE POLICY

Business Against Crime believes that in order to fulfil the aim of emphasising the organisational commitment to eradicate white collar crime the following areas of policy need to be clearly established:

• The organizational framework for dealing with crime.
• The reporting of crime
• The organization's approach to:
  
  • Investigation
  • Reporting to the South African Police Service
  • Internal disciplinary action
  • Prosecution
  • Recovery
  • Pension, accrued leave pay, bonus and other emoluments.
    
• The education of staff as to their responsibilities and awareness in relation to white collar crime.

ORGANIZATIONAL FRAMEWORK

We have already said that once the strategy and policy for dealing with white collar crime has been established, a Board member or a senior executive should be identified to bear over all responsibility for driving the policy. In medium sized and smaller organisations this person could be the Managing Director or Chief Executive Officer. We advocate that this post is supported by an "Enquiry Controller". The Enquiry Controller's main functions should include:

• the design and, when necessary, the activation of the organization's contingency plan.
• The conduct of any investigation.
• Co-ordination and liaison with outside agencies (SAPS, Government Departments, Forensic, Auditors etc).
• Receiving reports of Commercial Crime.

In a large organization with an investigations department the Enquiry Controller could be the departmental head. In smaller organizations a predetermined senior manager should be selected.

Where an organization operates from a number of sites, consideration should be given to the appointment of a Deputy Enquiry Controller at each site.
The Enquiry Controller should identify and have on standby, a small team of experts as part of the Contingency Plan. The resulting framework can be depicted diagrammatically as follows:

The selection of the Enquiry Controller should be made with care. A post holder should be identified, not an individual. The post holder concerned should be expected to have the training, proven ability and corporate status to take charge of the situation immediately.

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