By Foday Moriba Conteh
With the main objective of complementing Government’s efforts in the fight against corruption and raising awareness on ethics and compliance in the private sector, one of Sierra Leone’s leading GSM mobile operators, Orange Sierra Leone, has on Wednesday 24th March 2021 held its Ethics and Compliance awareness raising for its partners at their headquarters on Hill Station in Freetown.
Delivering a statement on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer of Orange SL, the General Secretary of Orange SL, Haffie Haffner, informed that the Ethics and Compliance training is geared towards educating partners about the company’s compliance program.
She said that the fight against corruption has been intensified all over the world and the private sector has not been left out on the fight, adding that the training will mitigate the associated risks, build a consistent and structured communication on Ethics and Compliance with their partners.
Haffie Haffner, added that as part of the celebration they will also raise consciousness on the related matter of fraud awareness, adding that with regards corruption they have a role to play in order to create a climate in which any act of fraud will meet zero tolerance stating that any instance of fraud will be identified and reported.
She said that as part of their message to show zero tolerance to fraud, with everyone being a partner, they would believe that- when you see something, you say something maintaining that it is against such a backdrop they are pushing to make sure that they focus on their processes, as fraud is perpetrated where there are no processes or weak processes.
The General Secretary of Orange SL stated that businesses all over the world continue to encounter numerous ethics and compliance challenges and are exposed to several risks, adding that there has been an increased pressure on businesses to strengthen their legal and compliance framework in line with international standards to fight corruption.
Underscoring their strengthen on ethics and compliance, she disclosed that Orange as a group has set up a code of ethics and anti-corruption policy adding that Orange is committed to conduct its activities in accordance with set principles and ethical behavior to fight corruption.
She added that Orange-SL therefore is prepared to comply with all national, European and International legal and regulatory provisions applicable to businesses related to the fight against corruption, notably amongst others, the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act, the French “Sapin 11” law.
She emphasized their commitment to the fight against corruption, influencing peddling and to lead a working environment with Zero Tolerance to corruption at all levels.
In his presentation, Head of Compliance at Orange SL, Gerald Cole, disclosed that the Ethics and Compliance Day is a key event for Orange in its work as a responsible operator, adding that the company is underlining its commitment to create the digital world of the future by building the trust of its stakeholders.
Underscoring the objectives of the ethics and compliance training he said it is to raise awareness among all Orange partners regarding ethics and compliance in order to prevent corruption within the company, to highlight the corruption risks associated with the performance of partner services to the company, and to make known the penalties for non-compliance to their internal policies and external laws.
Highlighting the role of the partners in the fight against corruption he revealed that partners should support Orange in the enforcement of the G&E policy and to report incidents of non-compliance by their employees that they may be aware of.
He disclosed that there is also a whistle blowing mechanism in effect set aside as a tool set to report incidents of corruption.
