Latest Articles
Will Ukraine’s new whistle-blower law punish innocent businesses?
October 2019 saw Ukraine’s Parliament introduce the “Whistle-blowers Law”. This gives far-reaching protection to people who blow the lid …
Every one of us can do something about corruption
Corruption hurts all of us. And we can all benefit from standing United Against Corruption. Most of us think that corruption is “just a wa…
Today is global anti-corruption day. So what will you do differently?
Today 9-December is International Anti-Corruption Day. Corruption hurts all of us. At an individual level, it increases the amount of tax p…
Eskom to lifestyle-audit 2,300 more staff as it turns up the heat against corruption
Great to see South Africa’s electricity supplier Eskom picking up the fight against corruption in the organisation. After lifestyle-auditin…
South African State charges EFF leaders Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu
It’s great to see heads finally starting to roll in the fight against injustice and corruption in South Africa. The EFF have been hit with …
The cryptoqueen: the hunt for a multi-billion-dollar scam artist
They called her the cryptoqueen. Bulgarian-born fraudster Dr Ruja Ignatova was a jet-setting, Oxford-educated entrepreneur with her own uni…
ANC MP Bongani Bongo arrested for corruption
It’s taken a long time, but corrupt politicians involved in South Africa’s state capture are finally getting punished. The Hawks’ Serious C…
SARS fires legal head over R420m Gupta VAT refund
Walls are shrinking for the corrupt Gupta clan. SARS head of legal, Refiloe Mokoena, has been fired. Mokoena allegedly granted the Gupta fa…
Lord Peter Hain puts foreign governments, global firms front and centre in South Africa’s State Capture
The Guptas wouldn’t have been able to capture South Africa without the help of a global network of consultants, lawyers, accountants and ba…
Facebook deletes 3.2bn fake accounts and millions of child abuse posts
Facebook Inc took down 3.2bn fake accounts in Q3 and Q4/2019, plus millions of posts showing child abuse and suicide. This is according to …
Facebook and YouTube block spread of whistleblower’s name and photo. Twitter allows both.
Facebook and Youtube are taking a stand. They’re blocking users from sharing the identity of a CIA officer who allegedly filed the damning …
Strong leadership and punishment of corruption wrongdoers: steps to rebuilding confidence in South Africa
The Springboks’ decisive win in the Rugby World Cup has boosted every South African’s spirits (thank you Bokke, we needed this!). However, …
Is there a place for humans in digitally disrupted accounting?
Cloud computing, automation, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things and blockchain. More and more, integration of financial data, …
Mattel’s CFO to leave after audit mistakes uncovered
Mattel’s chief financial officer is leaving the US toy firm after a board investigation triggered by a whistleblower report exposed mista…
We’re just too scared to report wrongdoing
The number of us who’ve seen wrongdoing is rising, studies have found – but many of us are too scared to report it. In 2018 in South Afr…
South Africa’s anti-money laundering measures under global spotlight
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the inter-governmental regulating body, are in South Africa to evaluate the country’s compliance …
EOH blacklists 50 business partners in corruption crackdown
JSE-listed tech group EOH is cracking down on corruption in a big way. EOH has blacklisted 50 enterprise development partners, and reported…
White House protects whistleblowers better than companies do
It looks like the White House’s system protects whistleblowers better than companies’ hotlines do. Harvard Business School professor Eu…
Successfully navigating the post #MeToo workplace
On the surface, it looks like women are making progress toward equality in the post #MeToo era. In politics, women are making headway. We s…
Medical regulator suspends 5 execs for alleged corruption
South Africa’s CMS (Council for Medical Schemes) recently announced the suspension of 5 senior officials, following allegations of corrupti…
EOH files criminal charges against corrupt employees
Under-fire tech services company EOH will lay criminal charges against employees involved in corruption. In a statement issued on 10-Oct-20…
U.S. sanction law targets Gupta network
It’s been a great week for the fight against corruption. The Gupta network of shady deals has been dealt a big blow, with the U.S. governme…
Drexel University professor spent federal grants at strip clubs
A former Drexel University professor allegedly spent almost $200,000 of federal research money on strip clubs and other personal expenses, …
8 things leaders do that make employees quit
You can’t control every aspect of your team’s work experience. If someone wants to leave badly enough, then they will. That said, there a…
20% of Big 4-audited IPO’s report weaknesses in financial-reporting controls
Lose Control Spin Out GIF from Losecontrol GIFs
Going public with serious holes in controls is more common than you think. In MarketWat…
Google can forget you – but only in Europe
If you want your past to be forgotten on the Net, moving to Europe might be your best bet. Google won’t have to apply Europe’s “right t…
British government still aiding repression in human rights-abusing countries
The British government continues to approve the export of hi-tech surveillance equipment and software of the type that is being used by sta…
Protecting whistle-blowers in the digital age
Speaking at the #ACFESA Africa conference this week on protecting whistle-blowers in the digital age. Lots of interesting other talks. Grea…
Call for forensic investigation into farmworker equity schemes
When Jolande Smith and 240 other farmworkers became shareholders in the Langwyde Werknemers Trust 10 years ago, they were led to believe th…
Garmin SA shopping website hacked
Garmin South Africa’s shop[dot]garmin[dot]co[dot]za website was hacked. This was according to an email sent out on 12-Sep-2019 by Garmin SA…
VP steals $5.4m from Goldman Sachs to pay gambling debt
Online poker was the undoing of Ashwani Jhunjhunwala, Goldman Sachs’ VP in India. Police have arrested him for stealing Rs 38 crore ($5.4m)…
VBS theft, money laundering & life’s little luxuries: Julius Malema’s time of spending dangerously
The lifestyle and political aspirations of EFF president Julius Malema were also funded from the R16m robbed from VBS Mutual Bank. Scorpioâ…
Inside entrepreneurs’ IP theft fight with Nedbank
“Unethical” is the way that entrepreneur, Thandile Jwambi, described Nedbank’s behaviour in the IP theft case he and his partner, Nicolas K…
Regiments Capital ‘stole’ R349m from pensioners in 4 days
Regiments Capital has agreed to an astounding R500m settlement with the Transnet Second Defined Benefit Fund (TSDBF). Regiments, a financia…
Does doing the same work over and over again make you less ethical?
Managers worry about employees breaking the rules. And they’re right to be concerned. Research shows that working on the same task can lead…
How Axiata uses data analytics to thwart telecom fraud
Telecom fraud is rapidly becoming one of the biggest sources of revenue loss for telco providers everywhere. A low-risk alternative to trad…
How Uber uses psychological tricks to push its drivers’ buttons
Uber carried out an eye-opening experiment in behavioural science to subtly entice its independent workforce of drivers to maximise its gro…
Make your meetings a safe space for honest conversation
To have better meetings means leading with mutual respectful, inclusivity, and creating a space safe enough for your people to speak their …
When fraud meets advanced tech
For years, auditors have focused on internal controls to assess if the control environment works effectively to reduce the risk of fraud. A…
Whistle-blowers are a sign of healthy companies
More whistles blown are a sign of health, not sickness. Firms whose hotlines get used more, tend to be more profitable and have less legal …
Social media: a rising threat to journalists’ freedom
Social media has made democracies more democratic by giving everyone a voice. But it also makes cyberbullies with large followings dangerou…
Whistleblowers need our trust and our protection
Fraud researcher and documentary filmmaker Kelly Richmond Pope shares lessons from some of the most high-profile whistle-blowers of the pas…
Thank you to all the whistleblowers out there
Yesterday 30-July was #WhistleblowerAppreciationDay in the US, while 23-June was World Whistleblower Day. It’s our way of saying a big th…
Ghost workers could kill your company
Are you paying salaries to people who don’t work for you, or who don’t exist? Ghost worker fraud on a company’s payroll is one of the har…
Facebook slapped with record $5bn fine over privacy breaches
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has slapped tech giant Facebook with a record $5bn fine over privacy breaches. A US government agency, t…
Ethical leadership means first do no harm, in business and in life
We need to be the change we want to see, we can’t expect others to do the right thing when we continue to do wrong. When balancing the d…
A R1.2bn pot of toxic soup at EOH
Eight people. That’s all. Eight people out of EOH’s staff of 11,500 put the entire company in jeopardy through a systematic process of …
Forensic probe uncovers R1.2bn in suspicious transactions at EOH
According to an update today, law firm ENSafrica found evidence of and is investigating R1.2bn in suspicious transactions at ICT group EOH….
The neuroscience of trust
Creating a culture of trust is good for business. Employees in high-trust organisations are more productive and engaged, have more energy a…
4 Ways Lying Becomes the Norm at a Company
Many recent corporate scandals such as Volkswagen or Wells Fargo have been cases of wide-scale dishonesty. But how could lying and deceit h…
Medical aid schemes caught in a vice between fraud and claims of racial profiling
Fraud against medical aid schemes is a big problem worldwide. But in South Africa, there is another aspect to the issue. And that is race. …
The 3 elements of trust
People are more likely to trust leaders who understand and embody the 3 elements that underlie trust. These are:
Positive relationships…
Are you ready to fight fraud?
Strengthening the internal control system and the control environment will help reduce the likelihood of fraud happening as well as the imp…
This is a WhatsApp whistleblowing message. I don’t know how else to do it
In 2016, out of desperation while on a pilgrimage in France, former South African Airways (SAA) treasurer Cynthia Stimpel sent a WhatsApp m…
KPMG fallout: cheating allegations raise new questions
After new allegations at KPMG of cheating on internal training tests, audit committees now have questions about their external auditors’ ow…
Managers aren’t doing enough to encourage whistle-blowing
If something was seriously wrong at your company, would your staff tell you? The article prompts managers to ask themselves some hard quest…
Record number of CEOs fired for ethical lapses
A record 18% of CEOs were replaced in 2018, with more top execs forced out for ethical lapses than were fired for poor performance or disag…
10 tips to avoid common financial scams
Data breaches, identity theft, online scams – every year, a destructive flood of fraud sweeps the world, leaving countless victims in its w…
Create a workplace where everyone feels comfortable speaking up
It’s vital for employees to voice their concerns when they see something worrying or unethical. But how do you make everyone understand t…
Why is whistle-blowing important?
Whistle-blowing is the most effective way of exposing wrongdoing. In 2 scientific studies (ACFE and PWC), whistle-blowers uncovered over 40…
Fraud causes financial loss in almost half of firms
Occupational fraud and abuse are causing financial losses in almost half of all firms, a survey from Mazars finds. The average loss per com…
Bullying and sexual harassment rife in the legal field
Bullying and sexual harassment are rampant in the legal profession. This is according to a new study on nearly 7,000 legal professionals in…
Can we ever get rid of corruption worldwide?
Ask citizens why their countries aren’t developing, ask investors why they choose not to invest in some regions, and corruption is almost…
The psychology behind unethical behaviour
Three psychological dynamics lead to crossing ethical lines: omnipotence, cultural numbness and justified neglect. These come into play whe…
If your company is going through a public scandal should you leave?
If you’re working at a Gupta-tainted company like KPMG, and they’re going through a public scandal, here’s the big question: should you sti…
Theranos whistleblower Erika Cheung on what went wrong and what’s next
Many people were involved in the spectacular downfall of once-buzzy Silicon Valley blood testing wunderkind, Theranos. But perhaps one of t…
Sterling’s dark, dirty secret: a culture of sexual harassment and unequal pay for women
While the #MeToo Movement shone a global spotlight on the entertainment industry, it’s painfully clear that the problem is just as wides…
P&G puts ad platforms like Facebook, Google on notice for fraud, harmful content, etc.
Procter & Gamble Co., one of the most important advertisers for Google and Facebook, ramped up criticism of internet platforms, saying …
Are patents worth it? Lessons from the $9bn Theranos fraud
The world is buzzing about Elizabeth Holmes. Her $9bn+ biotech company Theranos promised low-cost tech able to detect health ailments with …
Protect yourself against white-collar crime
Thanks to research from GIBS (the Gordon Institute of Business Science, South Africa), companies can use the insights of convicted white-co…
Check out our new EthicsDefender video!
Our new EthicsDefender video is live. Take a look and let us know what you think!
P.S. Big shout-out to our voice-over and video…
Today is World Voice Day
Today 16th April is World Voice Day. Your voice matters! This is your day to make your voice heard, to not keep quiet about fraud and wrong…
Telling the truth: dangerous but vital
Looking at the recent protests in South Africa around the launch of Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s book Gangster State, one thing is clear: tellin…
Assange arrested after Ecuador withdraws asylum protection
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was expelled from his hideout in Ecuador’s embassy in London today and quickly arrested by London police…
Why open secrets exist in organisations
In 2017, the New York Times broke the now widely-known scandal of media mogul Harvey Weinstein’s apparent decades-long pattern of sexual …