Cerebra & KDK & Solmaz Seminar Held: Managing Third-Party Risk in Turkey – 13 April 2016

The seminar named “Managing Third-Party Risk in Turkey: Is Third Party Risk, Your Risk?“ jointly organized by Cerebra Accounting Audit Advisory, Kolcuoğlu Demirkan Koçaklı Law Firm and Solmaz Group was held on 13 April 2016, Wednesday at the House Hotel Bosphorus, İstanbul.

The seminar was held with about 60 participants from various large multi-national companies that perform due diligence procedures before entering into relationships with entities in Turkey as well as Turkish companies subject to such due diligence procedures performed by large multi-national companies.

At the beginning of the seminar, Mr. Tayfun Zaman, Secretary General of the Ethics and Reputation Society, delivered a welcome speech and sent messages about the importance of third party risk management for business ethics and compliance considering the complex and changing international and national regulations in relation to corruption and bribery.

The first presentation was made by Mr. Okan Demirkan, KDK Partner, in relation to the impact of international and Turkish laws and regulations on combating bribery and corruption, particularly Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, UK Bribery Act, new German and Brazilian Anti-Corruption Laws. After the speech of Mr. Demirkan, Mr. Fikret Sebilcioğlu, Managing Partner of Cerebra, delivered a presentation. In the first part of his presentation, he shared critical findings of the global fraud study of ACFE named “Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse – 2016 Global Fraud Study”. Then, he focused on (i) third party risks from accounting and reporting perspectives, (ii) red flags related to third party frauds and detection methods and (iii) effective ways of fighting against third party frauds including corruption and bribery (such as hotlines, third party due diligence, anti-corruption compliance programs etc.). Mr. Sebilcioğlu also shared some recent information on the third party related corruption cases such as GlaxoSmithKline China and Novartis China.

The seminar was ended with a panel discussion where Mr. Asım Barlın, the founder of Solmaz Group, and Ms. Billur Barlın, second generation leading the Solmaz Group, made speeches on the history of the Solmaz Group and their long lasting commitment for combating corruption in the customs.

Objective of the Seminar: Why is Third-Party Risk Management Critical When Doing Business Globally?

Companies conducting business overseas face growing legal and reputational risks. These risks have become even more important because of increasingly complex business regulations worldwide. In the field of anti-corruption in particular, under many legal frameworks including the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the UK Bribery Act, organizations may indeed be held liable for acts of corruption by third parties, i.e. their agents, consultants, suppliers, distributors, joint-venture partners. Before entering into relationships with third parties, organizations should take active steps to ensure that potential corruption risks that may arise from these relationships are responsibly evaluated and managed. In fact, conducting a risk-based due diligence on third parties has become a legal expectation in many countries that have ratified the OECD Anti- Bribery Convention and/or the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

Click here to view the video shot by Solmaz Group.
Click here to view Turkish and English invitation of the seminar.