A recent report revealed that every day more Colombian private companies and organizations are linked to fraud and illicit conduct related to the mismanagement of economic resources. Cases related to fraud, bribery, money laundering, tax evasion and, in general, any type of cheating of the law committed by companies or people acting on their behalf for their own benefit, grew by at least 60% in the last year.
This was highlighted by the most recent Global Fraud and Risk report, prepared by the consulting firm Kroll, which showed that 78% of Colombian companies and organizations have carried out internal investigations for corruption or misconduct in the last three yearsplacing Colombia as the third place in Latin America in which the most acts associated with business fraud are committed.
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According to the consulting firm’s report, the sectors most compromised by these bad practices are: transportation, leisure and tourism, banking and telecommunications. Although all companies, regardless of their size, are at risk of falling into these illicit activities, Large organizations are the most likely to commit this type of behavior and bribery is the crime that most compromises them.
The above data was corroborated by a study by the Externado University, which confirmed that the offer of bribes, such as payment to expedite procedures or political donations, is a widespread practice in business. For their part, the SMEswho are not exempt from corruption, have been involved in illegal acts associated with the manipulation of checks and the alteration of payroll payments.
For her part, the lawyer, forensic auditor and founder of the Cevallos Holguín firm, Mercedes Cevallos, commented that corruption persists in the country, in part, due to the ineffectiveness of justice to prosecute these actions.
“Only between the years 2010 and 2023, according to data from Transparency for Colombia, complaints associated with corruption reached 57,582 cases, of which 93.99% today have no conviction, 89.7% remain uncaptured and 77.15% are in process under investigation,” added the lawyer.
Another reason why this crime has the country on the ropes is the legal loopholes that make the private sector complicit or end up involved in irregularities. Cevallos assured that the entity warns that the main Corrupt behavior generally manifests itself in the financing of political campaigns, the capture of contracting processes arranged in their favor, the legalization of transactions through money laundering and the creation of cartels or restrictions on free competition.
To the above was added the inclusion of new technologies as a risk for the practice of these behaviors, since, in one of the meetings of the World Alliance of Enemies of Corruption, of the World Bank, it was exposed how the management of digital documents is facilitating the diversion of funds, commission of economic or property crimes, appropriation of resources or the loss of evidence in anti-fraud investigations.
According to experts on the subject, Colombia is taking giant steps that have allowed it to strengthen the tools that citizens and the private sector have to prevent, detect, control and react to this type of behavior.
One of these has to do with the creation of secure channels so that any collaborator, client, supplier or person in general can report any type of irregularity that may arise within them. The above, in order to stimulate the culture of participation and social sanction against bribery.
Another instrument is the support of external firms in internal investigations. 98% of the organizations consulted for the Global Fraud and Risk Report requested their help. For this scenario, there are initiatives such as the Forensic Laboratory for anti-fraud and corporate corruption investigation of Cevallos Holguín, which is based on expertise in different forensic sciences applied to the detection of fraud and corruption and on those technical standards issued by international organizations for their prevention. .
“This laboratory guides internal investigations towards collecting the necessary evidence for companies to make decisions regarding the existence of criminal or unethical conduct that may compromise any member of the organization, with the help of experts in the detection of these punishable and technology with forensic auditing, judicial computing, among other techniques,” added the firm.
