SINGAPORE: Over the past month, Singapore Post has made headlines over a whistleblowing report that sparked an internal probe.
Its investigations uncovered a practice within its international business unit, which involved manually keying in falsely that the delivery of parcels for one of its largest customers had been unsuccessfully attempted.
Three unnamed employees from the unit were fired in June and police reports were filed against them.
Three senior executives were later sacked after they were found to be “grossly negligent” in their handling of the internal investigations into the whistleblowing report.
The case first came to light on Dec 22 when the postal service provider said in a Singapore Exchange (SGX) filing that it had sacked its group CEO, group CFO and head of the international business unit the day before.
It also cast a public spotlight on the practice of whistleblowing.
National University of Singapore’s Professor Mak Yuen Teen, who teaches corporate governance, and lawyer Celeste Ang from Baker & McKenzie Wong & Leow - whose practice includes investigations, compliance and ethics - told CNA’s Deep Dive podcast how whistleblowing works in Singapore and how to identify good policies in this aspect.
Are whistleblowers protected?
A person who discloses information relating to activities going on within an organisation which could be illegal, fraudulent or abusive is called a whistleblower, according to the Singapore Legal Advice website.
At the moment, there is no overarching legislation that gives obligations to whistleblowers or to protect them, said Ms Ang.
“There is limited protection in the sense that it comes in the form of a contractual obligation where the company will say: ‘If you follow these procedures, we will not retaliate against you just because you blew the whistle’”,” she said.
Is legislation necessary?
Whistleblowing may have negative consequences, like a bad performance review or other forms of intimidation - or even getting fired, said Prof Mak.
Without protections, there may not be appeal mechanisms against such reprisals, he added.
When countries have an overarching whistleblowing legislation, which provides an avenue to make a complaint if there has been such retaliation by a company, it can protect whistleblowers, he said.
“Sometimes, when you blow the whistle, you may expose yourself to civil liability. For example, (if) you take a company document and you go and blow the whistle, the company may say that is company property, or you get sued for defamation, for example,” noted Prof Mak.
“There are various risks, so legislation can be helpful in terms of having that additional layer of protection.”
He added that people fear they will be traced even if they submit their report anonymously, he said - and with good reason at times.
He also recounted an occasion when a panelist in a discussion shared that his firm used technology to find out the identity of the whistleblower.
What could be some challenges that arise?
When the whistle is blown against top executives like the CEO, there could be some bias from the company’s board of directors towards the individual at the centre of the report, said Prof Mark.
“One natural reaction is: ‘It can't be, right?’. (The board) knows the CEO and sometimes CEOs are very good at managing upwards too, so that is a bit of a problem,” he said.
“You may give (the CEO) the benefit of doubt. But also, I want to be clear, you should not necessarily assume that whatever the whistle blowing (report) alleges is true,” he added.
Boards and committees need to look at a whistleblowing report very objectively, he said.
“You then have to decide - if possibly the CEO could be involved, then you need to keep the CEO out of that process, or even the direct report of the CEO,” he said.
Ms Ang noted that the SGX requires listed companies to publish a report on their whistleblowing programmes.
Key to the policies is an independent function that oversees the whistleblowing programme, which even firms that are not listed may adopt, she said.
“Where you have senior management involved and you feel that perhaps the … audit committee who report to the board may not be able to discharge the function, then it behooves the board to then say: ‘Okay, maybe we should outsource this to a wholly external consultant’,” she said.
How should companies improve their whistleblowing programmes?
Ms Ang said that in recent years, there has been more focus on putting safeguards in place to maintain the integrity of whistleblowing programmes in order to give assurances to whistleblowers.
The lawyer has experience in advising firms on their whistleblowing policies and processes.
At the same time, companies need to make sure there is a process to look into these complaints such that whistleblowers do not abuse the policy, she said.
She added that firms that take their whistleblowing policy seriously focus on compliance and ensuring there is good ethical conduct across the organisation.
“So instead of saying that you must be certain before you whistleblow, they do want to encourage whistleblowers to come forward if there are actually real issues there,” she said.
When it comes to whistleblowing, it is the management that sets the tone, said Prof Mak, adding that it is important that they are committed to the programme.
Why should companies have robust whistleblowing programmes?
If companies do not have a sound policy on whistleblowing, it is more likely that employees will look for external avenues, said Prof Mark.
“And once (he or she) goes externally to a regulator, (the firm) may lose any control it has in terms of how it manages the investigation process, so (it is) in the organisation's self-interest to have a good whistleblowing policy,” he said.
Ms Ang added that the potential reputational damage of not having a whistleblowing programme that has integrity could be worse than any costs a company may incur from setting it up.
Do you get rewarded for whistleblowing?
According to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore website, a reward based on 15 per cent of the tax recovered, capped at S$100,000 (US$73,000), would be given to informants if the information and documents provided lead to a recovery of tax that would have otherwise been lost.
However, Prof Mak said that typically, whistleblowers would not ask for a reward.
While there used to be general reticence in terms of reporting among Asians, there is greater awareness now of the importance of a whistleblowing programme, said Ms Ang.
She also pointed out that upcoming legislation like the one on workplace fairness will come with a mandated grievance process and protections against retaliation on whistleblowers.
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Its investigations uncovered a practice within its international business unit, which involved manually keying in falsely that the delivery of parcels for one of its largest customers had been unsuccessfully attempted.
Three unnamed employees from the unit were fired in June and police reports were filed against them.
Three senior executives were later sacked after they were found to be “grossly negligent” in their handling of the internal investigations into the whistleblowing report.
The case first came to light on Dec 22 when the postal service provider said in a Singapore Exchange (SGX) filing that it had sacked its group CEO, group CFO and head of the international business unit the day before.
It also cast a public spotlight on the practice of whistleblowing.
National University of Singapore’s Professor Mak Yuen Teen, who teaches corporate governance, and lawyer Celeste Ang from Baker & McKenzie Wong & Leow - whose practice includes investigations, compliance and ethics - told CNA’s Deep Dive podcast how whistleblowing works in Singapore and how to identify good policies in this aspect.
Are whistleblowers protected?
A person who discloses information relating to activities going on within an organisation which could be illegal, fraudulent or abusive is called a whistleblower, according to the Singapore Legal Advice website.
At the moment, there is no overarching legislation that gives obligations to whistleblowers or to protect them, said Ms Ang.
“There is limited protection in the sense that it comes in the form of a contractual obligation where the company will say: ‘If you follow these procedures, we will not retaliate against you just because you blew the whistle’”,” she said.
Is legislation necessary?
Whistleblowing may have negative consequences, like a bad performance review or other forms of intimidation - or even getting fired, said Prof Mak.
Without protections, there may not be appeal mechanisms against such reprisals, he added.
When countries have an overarching whistleblowing legislation, which provides an avenue to make a complaint if there has been such retaliation by a company, it can protect whistleblowers, he said.
“Sometimes, when you blow the whistle, you may expose yourself to civil liability. For example, (if) you take a company document and you go and blow the whistle, the company may say that is company property, or you get sued for defamation, for example,” noted Prof Mak.
“There are various risks, so legislation can be helpful in terms of having that additional layer of protection.”
He added that people fear they will be traced even if they submit their report anonymously, he said - and with good reason at times.
He also recounted an occasion when a panelist in a discussion shared that his firm used technology to find out the identity of the whistleblower.
Related:
What could be some challenges that arise?
When the whistle is blown against top executives like the CEO, there could be some bias from the company’s board of directors towards the individual at the centre of the report, said Prof Mark.
“One natural reaction is: ‘It can't be, right?’. (The board) knows the CEO and sometimes CEOs are very good at managing upwards too, so that is a bit of a problem,” he said.
“You may give (the CEO) the benefit of doubt. But also, I want to be clear, you should not necessarily assume that whatever the whistle blowing (report) alleges is true,” he added.
Boards and committees need to look at a whistleblowing report very objectively, he said.
“You then have to decide - if possibly the CEO could be involved, then you need to keep the CEO out of that process, or even the direct report of the CEO,” he said.
Ms Ang noted that the SGX requires listed companies to publish a report on their whistleblowing programmes.
Key to the policies is an independent function that oversees the whistleblowing programme, which even firms that are not listed may adopt, she said.
“Where you have senior management involved and you feel that perhaps the … audit committee who report to the board may not be able to discharge the function, then it behooves the board to then say: ‘Okay, maybe we should outsource this to a wholly external consultant’,” she said.
Related:
How should companies improve their whistleblowing programmes?
Ms Ang said that in recent years, there has been more focus on putting safeguards in place to maintain the integrity of whistleblowing programmes in order to give assurances to whistleblowers.
The lawyer has experience in advising firms on their whistleblowing policies and processes.
At the same time, companies need to make sure there is a process to look into these complaints such that whistleblowers do not abuse the policy, she said.
She added that firms that take their whistleblowing policy seriously focus on compliance and ensuring there is good ethical conduct across the organisation.
“So instead of saying that you must be certain before you whistleblow, they do want to encourage whistleblowers to come forward if there are actually real issues there,” she said.
When it comes to whistleblowing, it is the management that sets the tone, said Prof Mak, adding that it is important that they are committed to the programme.
Why should companies have robust whistleblowing programmes?
If companies do not have a sound policy on whistleblowing, it is more likely that employees will look for external avenues, said Prof Mark.
“And once (he or she) goes externally to a regulator, (the firm) may lose any control it has in terms of how it manages the investigation process, so (it is) in the organisation's self-interest to have a good whistleblowing policy,” he said.
Ms Ang added that the potential reputational damage of not having a whistleblowing programme that has integrity could be worse than any costs a company may incur from setting it up.
Do you get rewarded for whistleblowing?
According to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore website, a reward based on 15 per cent of the tax recovered, capped at S$100,000 (US$73,000), would be given to informants if the information and documents provided lead to a recovery of tax that would have otherwise been lost.
However, Prof Mak said that typically, whistleblowers would not ask for a reward.
While there used to be general reticence in terms of reporting among Asians, there is greater awareness now of the importance of a whistleblowing programme, said Ms Ang.
She also pointed out that upcoming legislation like the one on workplace fairness will come with a mandated grievance process and protections against retaliation on whistleblowers.
Continue reading...