April 2015 - Jitka Logesová, partner at Kinstellar’s Prague office and head of the firm-wide Compliance, Risk and Sensitive Investigation Practice, and Roman Oleksik, Partner at Kinstellar’s Bratislava office, were invited speakers at the 6th Annual “Business Ethics Anti-corruption Compliance & Fraud Prevention Strategies in CEE & SEE” conference held in Prague, on 26–27 March 2015.
Recent experience across Europe shows that companies are increasingly vulnerable and exposed to fraud and corruption risks. The key driver for this appears to be the current economic climate. Decision makers have acknowledged that Central & Eastern Europe in particular poses specific challenges that require active attention from senior management.
During her presentation Jitka spoke about the challenges companies are facing, particularly in CEE countries that have introduced criminal liability for companies. She shared her experience with internal investigations in the region and highlighted the main hurdles during the process, such as (in some countries – e.g., the Czech Republic) the general duty to report suspicions of bribery crimes, from which only attorneys are generally exempt.
Roman’s presentation focused on data protection issues relevant for effective structuring and the conduct of internal investigations, including issues related to the transfer of data to the USA.
Jitka also participated as a panellist in a discussion about current legislative trends in whistle-blower protection (see also Whistleblower protection comes to CEE/SEE).
Kinstellar’s Compliance, Risk and Sensitive Investigations practice is a market leader in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey and Kazakhstan.
For more information, please contact Jitka Logesová, partner, at +420 221 622 119 or .