The Anti-Corruption & FCPA Compliance Committee organized it’s 6th Anti-Corruption Compliance and Risk Management Master Class in New Delhi on August 21st. Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM, welcomed participants. In her address she pointed out that despite a slight rise in India’s rank to 78 in the Corruption Perception Index 2018 released by Transparency International, there was still a lot to be done in terms of fighting corruption in India. She expressed her gratitude to the U.S. Embassy, Kobre & Kim, Baker McKenzie, FTI Consulting and Genpact for supporting the event.

Mr. Gaurav Ajmani, Chairman – Anti-Corruption & FCPA Compliance Committee, AMCHAM and Associate General Counsel, Business Conduct & Ethics, Amazon Seller Services, introduced the theme and provided an overview of sessions. He shared highlights of some of the recent happenings and also gave an overview of the progress made in fighting corruption in India. This was followed by a special address delivered by Mr. Robert Garverick, Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs and Environment, Science and Technology, U.S. Embassy.

The first session was a presentation on ‘Top Trends in FCPA, UK Bribery Act & and Recent Corruption Cases – Introduction of the Case Study’ by Mr. Vasu Muthyala, White-Collar, Corporate & Individual Investigations, and Enforcement Partner, Kobre & Kim, Ms. Mini vandePol, Asia Pacific Head, Compliance and Investigations, Baker & McKenzie and Mr. Sunny Mann, Compliance and Investigations Partner, Baker & McKenzie. The second session featured a panel discussion on the ‘Best Practices for Structuring the Right Anti-Corruption Program for Your Organization – What is Too Little or Too Much?’ It was moderated by Ms. Bhawna A. Ranganadhan, Co-Chairperson – Anti-Corruption & FCPA Compliance Committee, AMCHAM and Vice President, Legal and Compliance, Genpact and the panellists included Ms. Shukla Wassan, Executive Director-Legal & Corporate Affairs, South Asia, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, Ms. Saloni Tuteja, Director – Legal, South Asia, Zimmer Biomet & Mr. Ambrish Bakaya, Director-Corporate Affairs, Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

In the third session, Mr. Gaganpreet Singh Puri, Partner and Leader, Forensic Services, PwC India, gave a comprehensive presentation on the ‘Use of Technology in Investigations – AI and Machine Learning.’ Thereafter, in session 4, Mr. Puneet Singh, FBI Attaché, U.S. Embassy, spoke about ‘Cross Border Investigations’ and also touched upon the rising cyber security threats in India and how FBI works with Indian authorities and society to combat it.

Prof (Dr.) Madhu Bhalla, Vice Chair, Transparency International India, in the next session spoke about the ‘Fight Against Corruption.’ While giving a brief about the recent work carried out by Transparency International, she shared some alarming illustrations of corruption in India, for example, as per a recent survey, bribery in India has increased by 46%.

To encompass recent trends, session 6 focussed on ‘The New Risks & Best Practices in Global Investigations – Trade Sanctions, Data Privacy, MeToo, and Other Misconduct’ which was presented by Mr. Vasu Muthyala, White-Collar, Corporate & Individual Investigations and Enforcement Partner, Kobre & Kim, Ms. Mini vandePol, Asia Pacific Head, Compliance and Investigations, Baker & McKenzie and Mr. Sunny Mann, Compliance and Investigations Partner, Baker & McKenzie. This session covered sanctions and export controls, data protection, GDPR, MeToo and investigations.

In the next session Mr. Anuj Bugga, Senior Managing Director, FTI Consulting and Mr. Prasad Shetty, Managing Director, FTI Consulting, focussed on case studies ‘M&A Red Flags and Bribery, Corruption and Investigations.’ They explained the high-risk touchpoints in bribery and corruption risks in mergers and acquisitions that included geographical risks, government’s touchpoints, third parties, corporate governance, management reputation and business partners. In the last session on ‘POCA Guidelines and Enforcement,’ Mr. Ashish Singh, Partner, Dua Associates drew a comparison between POCA and the FCPA explaining the details of the POCA Act that are applicable to business organizations. The last presentation was given by Ms. Deniz Muslu, Assistant Director – Office of Enforcement Analysis, Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce, who provided an introduction of the BIS. The master class concluded with closing remarks from Ms. Bhawna A. Ranganadhan, Co-Chairperson – Anti-Corruption & FCPA Compliance Committee, AMCHAM.