Whistleblowing
In 2006 Wim Vandekerckhove wrote in his book “Whistleblowing and Organizational Social Responsibility : A Global Assessment.“:
“A whistleblower is a person who exposes secretive information or activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct.“
Whistleblowing is one of the most important tools we have when it comes to protecting human society, democracy and the maintenance of social peace. Whistleblowing is integral for the early recognition of risks and undesirable developments within one’s own organization (state, administrative structure, company, etc.). It is often (apart from intelligence activities) the only possible source of information regarding illegal behavior by governments or government-related authorities. Without the likes of Mark Felt („Deep Throat“ / Watergate Affair) or Edward Snowden (NSA-Affair) the world would never have known about the unethical, illegal or criminal activities of members of government or even entire authorities.
However, whistleblowing is not only applicable at the political and public sector. Whistleblowing is also a way to maintain fairness, open and legal competition on national and international (trade) markets in private business operations. It is the protection of all sections of society through whistleblowing that contributes to social peace.
In many countries national laws place corruption in the category of serious crime and often impose very high penalties upon conviction (FCPA, ABA…) Whistleblowing is often the method of obtaining information about an alleged corruption affair at all.
This is also the reason why the regulations in these laws also require the establishment of so-called whistleblower hotlines or the installation of secure information systems that guarantee independent reporting of ethical violations.
One of the most important criteria for the successful installation of a whistleblower hotline is to guarantee the absolute anonymity of the whistleblower. This is a mandatory requirement!
Statutory whistle-blower award programs exist in many states. Here is an example of how courage and steadfastness are rewarded. (→ Novartis – Doc-Affaire)
ARROWS / Insiders Corp already operates such hotlines for a long time (also in connection with Anti Corruption Response Centers) in various countries across the globe.
To guarantee security in all our communications with our clients, we consistently and automatically use state-of-the-art AES-256-bit encryption technology to transmit all information and data. In this way we currently achieve a standard that precludes illegal data loss.
Certain illegal practices (corruption, illegal granting of advantages, nepotism…) can cause considerable damage to customers. For years Arrows Consulting investigates successfully in the interest of our clients to locate such stolen values and to return them to the real owner (companies, organisations, Treasury).
The following links show some of the corruption or bribery cases in the recent past that have come to light, also and especially through the courage of whistleblowers.
It is very important to be able to differentiate between a whistleblower acting to reveal necessary and conscientious information to the public about unethical behaviour in public, private or governmental entities and the whistleblower revealing trade or state secrets out of material or other personally motivated self-interest. There is often a fine line between the two, but our expert team will be able to navigate the information to advise and guide.