Gathering facts around potential corruption, anti-competition matters
SNC-Lavalin Group is launching a company-wide amnesty program to encourage employees to report potential corruption and anti-competition matters in which they may have direct or indirect knowledge. The company said it intends to fully gather and assess the facts associated with corporate ethics matters in order to resolve them.
To be eligible for amnesty, an employee must file a request with the company’s chief compliance officer between June 3 and Aug. 31, 2013. SNC-Lavalin is guaranteeing it will not make claims for damages or unilaterally terminate employees who voluntarily, truthfully and fully report violations of its Code of Ethics and Business Conduct during this period.
However, the offer does not extend to executives in the company's office of the president or management committee groups, or anyone who directly profited from an ethical violation.
"Amnesty programs are known to be highly effective means of getting to the bottom of ethics and compliance issues in large organizations," said Andreas Pohlmann, chief compliance officer at SNC-Lavalin Group. "While the vast majority of SNC-Lavalin's employees will have nothing to report, this offer of amnesty will allow us to uncover and quickly deal with any remaining issues. Our goal is to turn the page on a challenging chapter in the company's history, so we can focus all of our attention on creating value for our stakeholders."
SNC-Lavalin has been prolific in the news over the last year or so, plagued by RCMP investigations and allegations of fraud and bribery, along with the arrests of former senior executives, including its CEO.
