Anti-corruption

Michael, Simon, Catu and Jens, thank you for being with us today.

To start today's episode, can you give a brief overview of the new European Directive on Combating Corruption and why it is of interest to private sector organisations around the world? Michael, can I come to you first?

Absolutely.

I'll kick us off.

So the European directive on combating corruption came into force at the end of May, beginning of June this year.

The intention of the directive is to set anti-corruption standards that will apply now across the European Union and address corruption more consistently.

from one EU jurisdiction to the next.

In that sense, the directive is another step towards a more harmonized and robust EU compliance landscape.

As with cases like the 1MDB scandal or FIFA, corrupt money can move across borders quickly.

Fighting corruption requires countries to work together and share information.

In some places, the biggest challenge is changing the culture around corruption.

When corruption is expected, when corruption is normal, it makes it really hard to end corruption.

I gave examples including the 1MDB scandal, Siemens bribery scandal, and FIFA corruption.

These examples show that corruption can be complex and international.

In the end, I think fighting corruption requires transparency, accountability, strong institutions, and meaningful consequences.

But what do you think? How is corruption in your country? Are there any famous corruption scandals in your country that you could tell us about? Have you ever had to pay a bribe for something? You can let me know by leaving a comment on YouTube or Spotify or comment on Patreon.