Corruption (fraud, bribes)

Russia

Main article: Corruption in Russia

In the world

Anti-corruption legislation and best practice

The need to protect persons reporting corruption crimes is provided for by the UN Convention against Corruption. The convention was adopted in New York in 2003, and Russia ratified it in 2006^[1].

The system of protection of the so-called "whistleblowers" (whistleblowers, "blowing the whistle") is developed in many countries, but primarily in the United States. There, the special government organization Government Accountability Project is engaged in defending their interests. The first whistleblower is traditionally considered Benjamin Franklin, who in 1773 published confidential letters. So it was proved that the Governor of Massachusetts misled the UK Parliament and achieved military buildup in the New World. It is worth noting that whistleblower refers to ordinary citizens who accidentally became aware of a violation of the law, and not full-time law enforcement informants.

• The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s (Basel I, Basel II)
• COSO (The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission)
• Specification for an anti-bribery management system (ABMS)
• Recommendations from leading auditors (KPMG, Ernst & Young, Delloite, PriceWaterCoopers House)
• UN Convention and Analyst UNIDC (UN Drug and Crime Units)
• UK Bribery Act 2010
• Methodological Recommendations on the Development and Adoption of Measures by Organizations to Prevent and Combat Corruption, Ministry of Labor of 08.11.2013
• Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 147 of April 1, 2016 "On the National Anti-Corruption Plan for 2016-2017"

Stages of anti-corruption activities:

• Prevention
• Identification
• Reaction

The main measures taken in the largest companies and provided for by the state by the politicians of the leading countries:

• Education and training
• Hotlines and alarm buttons
• Analytical apparatus
• Regulatory framework

Principles of effective operation of the Hotline:

• Knowledge
• Availability
• Privacy
• Anonymity
• Whistleblower protection
• Option - Reward for Information

Problems of anti-corruption measures

• Pretentiousness
• Inertia, focus on next generation
• Bureaucratization trend
• "The Problem of the 20th Article"
• Superiority of response over warning (including at the level of algorithms)
• Belovorotnichka mafia

2023: China begins operation to catch corrupt officials who fled abroad

On March 21, 2023, the Information Department of the State Council of China (SCIO) announced that the country's authorities had initiated a large-scale anti-corruption operation codenamed Sky Net. Read more here.

2021: Ericsson manager gives officials millions in bribes for government contracts

On September 8, 2021, information appeared that one of the managers of Ericsson gave officials large bribes for government contracts. We are talking about a 53-year-old citizen of Ethiopia and SwedenAfwerka Bereket. He, as established by the investigation, helped pay bribes in the amount of $2.1 million to officials of the executive branch of Djibouti and its state telecommunications company in order to receive a contract worth €20.3 million ($24 million). Read more here.

2020

Charging Apple's security chief with bribery

On November 23, 2020, Apple security chief Thomas Moyer was accused of trying to bribe police officers with iPads. Details of the charge are cited by the Santa Clara district attorney's office. Read more here.

Ministry in Denmark told how blockchain will defeat corruption

In early September 2020, the Danish Ministry of Development Cooperation published a report recognizing blockchain as an effective tool to combat corruption, especially in refugee camps. Blockchain provides increased oversight of businesses, governments and stakeholders, thereby cutting many corrupt ties. Read more here.

2019

How Ericsson bribed officials around the world and will now pay $1 billion

In early December 2019, the exact amount that Ericsson will pay to withdraw corruption charges that were previously brought by the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) became known. Under the terms of the agreement, Ericsson will pay $520.6 million in favor of the Ministry of Justice, $458.4 million from the SEC, as well as $81.5 million in interest for a pre-trial settlement.

In the world, only 13% of organizations use AI and machine learning to combat fraud

On July 11, 2019, it became known that in just two years artificial intelligence and machine learning will be used to counter fraud three times more often than in July 2019. Such data were obtained during a joint study by SAS and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). As of July 2019, such anti-fraud tools are already used by 13% of organizations that took part in the survey, and another 25% said they plan to implement them within the next year or two.

As reported, the joint SAS and ACFE study was launched in February 2019, and its results were summed up at the end of June 2019. To do this, the responses of 1,055 ACFE members working in different countries of the world were studied. Based on the results, an interactive report was created. The questions asked to the experts concerned the technologies and tools that are used in their organizations to combat fraud.

As it turned out, as of July 2019, most organizations most often use predefined reports on key fraud events using classic tools, for example, from Microsoft Office. It is the standard tool for 64% of companies covered by the study. In the second most popular place, automatic monitoring using expert business rules is used in 54% of organizations. Closes the top three visual data research using BI tools - it accounts for 35%.

As for the plans for the development of the technologies used, in addition to the growing interest in AI, the authors of the study revealed the following trends:

• Wider adoption of biometrics is expected. As of July 2019, approximately one in four organizations use it, and another 16% of survey participants plan to implement it by 2021.
• It is planned to significantly pay more attention to various tools and techniques of data analysis. It is expected that by 2021, 72% of organizations will use automatic data monitoring, automatic detection of anomalies, etc., to combat fraud.
• Predictive analytics is planned to be used in 52% of organizations, which is 22% higher than the previous study.
• An increasing trend continues for the use of data visualization tools - 47% of organizations plan to use or continue to use them (as of July 2019, 35% are trying on).

One of the questions asked to participants concerned the most commonly used analytical tools. It turned out that SAS solutions are most often chosen for solving predictive analytics and modeling problems, for analyzing social relationships and applying graph analytics, for deep analysis of text information.

Since attackers use modern technologies, using them to build increasingly advanced criminal schemes, professionals who oppose them must also resort to the most advanced solutions. The answer to the question of who will emerge victorious from this confrontation depends on the choice of the most effective technologies and risk management tools. narrated by Bruce Dorries, President and CEO of ACFE

China shuts down artificial intelligence that sought corrupt officials too effectively

Authorities China are disabling the Zero Trust computer system, built on artificial intelligence and designed to combat corruption among officials. It was developed and deployed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and internal oversight bodies of the Chinese Communist Party. The system is designed to monitor, evaluate, and, if necessary, interfere with the work and personal lives of civil servants^[2]

Some regional governments, including Manyang Autonomous District, Huaihua Urban District, and Li County in Hunan Province, stopped the Zero Trust from operating on their territory, citing the fact that civil servants did not feel comfortable during its use. In some departments - such as the Chinese Communist Party Discipline Review Commission in Ningxiang - the system is still in use, yet officials admit to being under immense pressure. There is no talk of a nationwide Zero Trust launch.

Many officials, seeking to ban the system, pointed out as a reason the fact that artificial intelligence does not have the right to access classified databases - this issue is not regulated by Chinese law.

2017

UN named the annual volume of bribes in the world

Every year, the world spends $1 trillion on bribes. This is stated in the message of the United Nations (UN), published in honor of the International Day against Corruption, which was celebrated on December 9, 2017.

As a result of corruption, states receive $2.6 trillion, an amount equivalent to 5% of world GDP. According to the UN Development Program, in developing countries, corruption-related losses exceed official development assistance by ten times.

"The UN

reminds that bribery is a serious crime that undermines the socio-economic development of any society. No country, no region is immune from corruption, "the international organization said in a statement. "These figures are staggering, but even more surprising, what lies behind these financial frauds - a world of terrible poverty and inequality, exacerbated by distortions in income distribution and decisions on public spending influenced by corruption," said Patrick Kewlers, head of the UNDP peacebuilding support department.

He mentioned the investigations of the Panama archives and stressed that these materials of journalists showed the scale of all the hidden world wealth that is hidden offshore. He also refers to data from analysts at Oxfam International, which estimated that African states lose about $14 billion annually due to tax evasion. Keulers points out that this money could go to health care to save the lives of 4 million children, or to education so that every child in African countries can study at school.

The 2017 barometer of global corruption in the Asia-Pacific region, which was released by Transparency International in November, shows that 38% of people living below the poverty line are forced to pay bribes for access to public services. The authors of the study also concluded that a high level of bribes is associated with a low level of literacy among young people.

British authorities use artificial intelligence to uncover corruption

In February 2017, it became known about the use of the Ravn ACE system by the British authorities to investigate corruption. The technology was tested on British aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce.

The UK's Large Scale Fraud Office (SFO) pioneered the use of an automated Ravn ACE system designed to select and index documents and extract knowledge from them. Using the program, seven specialists processed 600 thousand documents a day. In total, about 30 million materials were analyzed in automatic mode. Previously, such information had to be processed manually. See Ravn ACE for more details.

2016

Transparency International - Corruption Perceptions Index

The annual Corruption Perception Index study was published by Transparency International^[3]. The ranking, which includes 176 countries, gives an assessment of the level of corruption in each of the states. The less points the country scored, the higher its level of perception of corruption.

Azerbaijan took the best position in the Caspian region. The country has 123 places with 30 points (in 2015 - 29 points).

Russia, together with Kazakhstan and Iran, received 29 points each in 2016. All these countries took 131 places. And if Russia's position has not changed over the year, then Kazakhstan and Iran have grown slightly - from 28 and 27 points, respectively.

Turkmenistan in the ranking scored 22 points and took 154 place. Despite the rather low position, the country made a noticeable leap, improving its performance by three points. So, last year Turkmenistan scored only 18 points.

New Zealand and Denmark shared 1st place. These countries have 90 points each. The "tail" of the rating is the DPRK (12 points), Sudan (11 points) and Somalia (10 points).

The average value of the level of perception of corruption in the world is 43 points.

In general, the compilers of the rating note that there have been no significant changes in the attitude towards corruption over the past year - neither in Central Asia nor in Europe.

1200 Kazakh officials are deprived of the right to work in public service for life

Most of them are for corruption crimes.

This was announced by the Deputy Chairman of the Agency of Kazakhstan for Civil Service Affairs and Anti-Corruption Alik Shpekbaev, Kazinform MIA reports in December 2016. In the last two years alone, 660 officials have been sentenced to multiple fines. Thanks to this, the budget received more than 6 billion tenge. 924 officials attracted for corruption crimes were confiscated, and more than 1200 were deprived of the lifelong right to work in public service, Shpekbaev said.

By the way, in the outgoing year, the Ethics Commissioners, disciplinary commissions in government agencies and ethics councils in the regions appeared in Kazakhstan. They follow the moral and ethical appearance of civil servants. In case of non-compliance with the standards, these bodies give appropriate advice and instructions. In extreme case, disciplinary liability is provided, up to dismissal from the civil service.

2014

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

Deloitte: What time are the risks of fraud assessed?

• On average, each organization loses 5% of revenue per year from fraudulent activities;
• About one third of cases of fraud occur in the field of corruption, the average loss under one scheme is $250,000;
• The higher the level of power of the fraudster, the greater the losses. Average fraud losses arising from abuse of ownership/senior management are estimated at $573,000 committed by management - $180,000 and committed by employees - $60,000.

The average amount of direct financial damage from fraud in the Russian Federation is about 5 times higher than around the world

2013: KPMG

• About one in seven scams are revealed completely by accident (13%);
• Every tenth crime is solved thanks to the information of company employees for remuneration;
• 14% of frauds were disclosed with the help of anonymous informants;
• 8% of crimes were solved after complaints from customers and suppliers were received;
• 6% were cases where violations were identified as a result of requests from controlling organizations, banks, tax authorities, competitors or investors.

Bribes and fraud in medicine

Main article: Crimes in medicine

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See also

• Crime in Russia
• Unified database on property and accounts of Russians
• Information Security - Fraud Detection System (Fraud)
• Credit fraud
• Money Laundering (Money Muling)

• Based on the presentation "Comprehensive automation of anti-corruption activities. Theory and practice. " Natalia Petukhova and Alexey Bogdanov, Compulink, 2016
• Corruption in Russia: classification and dynamics

Notes