It is important for companies to reassess the risks of bribery and corruption as well as prepare mitigation attempts.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto voiced complete support to the efforts to prevent corruption in order to create a clean business ecosystem to boost investors' trust.

"I fully support corruption prevention attempts. It is important to reduce the risk of corruption, both now and in future," Hartarto remarked in his keynote speech at a webinar titled ‘Managing the Risk of Bribery Amidst the Pandemic in the Private Sector’ on Tuesday.

The minister noted that the business ecosystem amid the pandemic showed an unstable financial climate, a shift in the company's focus to health risk mitigation and COVID-19 handling, as well as an increasing number of cybersecurity threats. Thus, business actors had to remain cautious regarding the risks of bribery and corruption.

"It is important for companies to reassess the risks of bribery and corruption as well as prepare mitigation attempts," he affirmed.

Furthermore, for handling the pandemic, the coordinating minister informed that the government had issued Government Regulation in Lieu of Law Number 1 of 2020 to provide a legal basis for the government for establishing policies and making extraordinary attempts for the state finance and national financial sector.

In order to implement the regulation, the government cooperates with all stakeholders to ensure that all activities are in accordance with the principles of good governance, accountability, and fairness to the utmost extent for the benefit of the people.

"In 2020, Transparency International -- a non-governmental organization to combat global corruption -- had released a guidance for companies to maintain their integrity," he remarked.

The first step is to ensure that the corporation has a good risk assessment framework that is actively applied in assessing the corruption risk that arises due to changes in the company’s operational patterns during the pandemic.

The second guideline is the importance of involving the company’s top management.

Furthermore, Hartanto encouraged companies to assist the government by not providing opportunities for any corruption activity.

He assessed that restrictions imposed on the company's activities to curb the spread of COVID-19 could also be an opportunity for the firm to review its internal control policies and procedures.

"Various economic recovery efforts necessitate collaboration from various stakeholders, comprising the private sector that has to continue to demonstrate integrity and good governance to raise the investors’ confidence in the business climate in Indonesia," he added.

Translator: Kuntum Riswan, Uyu Liman
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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