Dear TIPS member,
Please see attached the TIPS Newsletter for May 2019. A couple of notes:
TIPS Networking Drinks | Mon 24 June: Our next TIPS Networking drinks will take place at the Folly near Monument on 24 June. Our discussion focus on this occasion will be around whistleblowing and will be led by the team at whistleblowing charity Protect.
Follow up to Dr Jozsef Martin on Tues 21 May: Many of you came to Jozsef Martin’s engaging talk on corruption in Hungary last week. For those of you who missed it, Jozsef has kindly agreed for us to share his slides. At the end of his talk, he reflected on what can be done and described a high school anti-corruption curriculum the TI Hungary team has developed. You can learn about the programme here and access the anti-corruption handbook the team developed here.
We look forward to seeing you soon.
- the TIPS team
1. Upcoming Events (register on our events page)
Fintech, “Disrupt or Corrupt” | 5 June 2019 | 6.30-9pm
Millennium Gloucester Hotel, SW7 4LH
What You Saying? Spoken Word & Poetry Night Theme: CORRUPTION | 11 June | 7-10.30pm
Project B, 3-7 Middle Street, CR0 1RE
Prosecuting Presidents: Trump, Zuma, and Beyond | 12 June | 2-3.45pm
UCL, 29-30 Tavistock Square, WC1H 9QU
C5 Anti-Corruption Conference | 18-19 June
Hilton London Bankside, SE1 0UG
Take the Money and Run: Power, Money and Counter-Power | 19 June | 7-9.30pm
Live Art Development Agency – LADA, E2 6LX
Canning House, Transparency and Corruption Series: Part 1 | 19 June | 6-8pm
Royal College of Nursing, W1G 0RN
TIPS Networking Drinks | 24 June 2019 | 6.30-8pm
The Folly, 41 Gracechurch Street, EC3V 0BT
2. Recent TIPS Events
TIPS Event | Summary | A conversation with Dr. Jozsef Martin, Executive Director of TI-Hungary
On 21 May 2019, around 35 TIPS members attended a fascinating talk given by Jozsef Martin. He provided an evidence-based insight into corruption in Hungary, outlining Hungary’s decline on anti-corruption indicators such as the CPI and the World Bank’s World Governance Indicators. He spoke of how political disruption has resulted in among other things state capture and grand corruption.
One particularly interesting chart suggested that the public perception of the economy in Hungary is positive despite economic indicators painting a very different story. This contradiction suggests that Hungary may have a Potemkin economy, one that appears stable on the surface, but is in fact rotten underneath.
The conversation continued over drinks and canapés – it was a hugely engaging evening!
3. Other items of interest
News article: Major multi-national fraud probe into Airbus could settle this year
City AM has reported that Airbus could reach a settlement with UK, French and US authorities in connection with a long-running fraud investigation as
soon as this year. The case revolves around the use of third party consultants by Airbus to win international aircraft orders. See here.
News article: London properties worth £80m targets in “dirty money” probe
On 29 May, the FT reported that the NCA has obtained its second set of unexplained wealth orders in respect of property worth more than £80m. The NCA did not disclose the identity of the owner, but confirmed that they are a politically exposed person. See here.
TI-UK Blog: Will post-Brexit Britain be a beacon or buccaneer on financial crime?
On the third anniversary of the UK’s 2016 Anti-Corruption Summit, Robert Barrington contemplated what post-Brexit Britain might look like from a financial crime perspective. He said that it should be a “no-brainer” for the UK to do two simple things: (1) introduce a new offence of failure to prevent economic crime; and (2) engage the Law Commission to conduct a fuller
review of the overall corporate liability landscape. Read Robert’s full blogpost here.
TI-UK Article: Corporate political transparency: bringing political engagement out of the shadows
In April 2019, Rocio Paniagua and Bonnie Groves of TI-UK published a thought-provoking article in the Compliance and Risk Journal contemplating the risks around corporate political engagement. In particular, they commented that irresponsible corporate political engagement can lead to corruption risks as well as legal, financial and reputational risks for companies. See more here.
Support TI-UK Runners
On 19 May 2019, Steve Walls and Steve Caldwell ran the Hackney Half Marathon to raise money for TI-UK. Support their fundraising efforts here.
Thanks for sharingg