Communicating to Fight Corruption

Kristin Berglund, Senior Legal Counsel, A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, Denmark

Maersk Line’s Senior Legal Counsel Kristin Berglund explains the most important features of a successful anti-corruption programme. Amongst them is open disclosure of bribes by employees. That vital information informs a highly strategic approach to tackling specific hot spots of corruption. In a 2010 survey on the most frequently discussed global problems the BBC concluded that corruption ranked as number one, ahead of climate change, extreme poverty and hunger, unemployment and rising cost of food and energy. On the regulatory side the topic is gaining focus. There have been a number of large enforcement cases under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and since 2010 we, as in-house counsels, now also need to look to the UK Bribery Act. For companies, steering clear of law enforcement is however not the only purpose of a compliance programme. Communities, employees, and not least, customers, are demanding that companies take the combat against corruption seriously. We at Maersk Line would like to cooperate with others who have an interest in reducing and eventually eliminate corruption. In this article we describe what and how we work towards this and why we believe that a whole hearted open communication is the best way to achieve our goal.

Maersk Group has four core businesses which include Maersk Line, APM Terminals, Maersk Oil and Maersk Drilling. Through these companies and several others, the group employs roughly 121,000 people, and generated 59 billion US dollars in revenue in 2012. As a group, our business success is built on a number of strengths: our size and global reach, our financial strength, our talented employees, our time-honoured values, our approach to sustainability and our drive to innovate. Combined, these strengths form a unique platform for our continued success and future growth. A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S is listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. Shares in the company are divided into A and B shares, with only A shares conferring voting rights. The group currently has some 76,000 shareholders.