Director of Whistle Blowers, Dale Horne, said that the new call centre follows the South African blueprint as an independent subscription service specifically designed to provide employees with the means to anonymously "blow the whistle" on fraud, criminal activity and other irregularities.
Horne said when it came down to actual losses, the situation was similar in both South Africa and in India: "It is a proven fact that the biggest potential threat to the security and bottom line of a company does not necessarily come from strangers, clients, service providers or suppliers but from its own employees. Credible research shows that over 80% of company thefts are perpetrated by employees or with their knowledge, while corruption and collusion between employees has been recorded in 48% of theft and fraud cases. More recent survey results confirm that the frequency, value and sophistication of internal theft and fraud is still growing worldwide."
The flip-side of the company-crime coin is that the array of callers is often as wide as the crimes that are reported and ranges from disgruntled members of crime syndicates who have been short-changed to unsuccessful tenderers reporting bribes to spouses and family members of workers who have told them about crimes being committed against their employers.
The common denominator is establishing trust which proved the key challenge when Whistle Blowers (Pty) Ltd was established in South Africa in February 2000. It is for this reason that the 24-hour call centre is manned by multi-lingual people with interviewing rather than interrogation skills. "Because we work on a trust relationship, we need to make people who were brave enough to pick up the phone comfortable to continue to talk to us. People don't want to talk to machines," said Horne.
To dispel fear, he said it was important for people to be sensitised on how to make use of the line, and said that Whistle Blowers takes protecting informants seriously, with consultants available to answer questions 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to give the whistle blower confidence. "The whistle blowing process goes through a number of stages. First the client has to trust us to handle privileged, sensitive information and provide quality feedback. Then the workforce needs to trust us to protect them. Our many years of experience and proven track record, together with an impressive client base and accreditation with the Ethics Institute of SA helps in this regard," said Horne.
Horne explained that when Whistle Blowers surveyed large corporates in India, it emerged that 85% of respondents preferred being able to report their concerns to an external whistle blowing service provider rather than an internal one.
"Our leadership team boasts an impressive record of success in implementing Whistle Blowers in South Africa. We have assembled an exceptional leadership team across both continents," he said.
At this point, he admits, Indian law does not provide the level of protection to whistle blowers that legislation in South Africa and other first world economies does. Corporate governance is still in its earliest stages and codes of ethics and good governance are recommendations rather than law.
With its head office in South Africa, Whistle Blowers is already active in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Kenya, Nigeria, Botswana, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Australia and New Zealand where it meets stringent international corporate governance standards. This corresponds with international audit requirements that any reports of irregularities should be handled and corroborated by an independent professional body.
For further information, go to www.whistleblowing.co.za.
