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CORRUPTION

‘Firms report recession corruption increase’

Fraud and corruption has increased during the recession with Swedish firms harder hit than the global average, a new survey by consultancy firm Ernst & Young shows.

“There are signs that there there trend shows a tendency to increase among the number of firms affected and that more incidents of fraud and corruption have emerged,” said Kenneth Johansson at Ernst & Young in Sweden to The Local on Monday.

Johansson forwarded a theory that internal financial pressures and the need for refinancing have helped to boost the statistics.

“The pressure on companies to perform, at the same time as it will be difficult for them to reach their financial goals, can lead to certain employees to disregard the company’s basic principles and values,” he said.

“Furthermore as firms during a recession are more likely to need to seek further financing then their accounts are subjected to increased inspection, and thus more cases of fraud come to light.”

The survey is the 11th biennial report published by Ernst & Young and involved 1,400 CFOs and heads of internal audit and legal compliance units at 36 major international companies.

Among the firms located in western Europe 21 percent responded that they had been affected, and discovered fraud within their firms. The equivalent figure in a Europe wide survey from 2009 was 10 percent.

The study writes that “measures to mitigate corruption and bribery exposure are

still not standard practice for companies, including those looking to drive growth through acquisitions” as global economies emerge from recession.

Many global firms lack a documented response plan to the discovery of fraud within their business, the report concludes. Kenneth Johansson told The Local that Swedish firms show a lack of engagement in tackling the problem.

“There are indications that in Sweden readiness is lower, as it seems is interest from boards and senior management,” he said.

The report shows that among Swedish firms a third reported problems with fraud and corruption, meaning that Swedish firms were above average globally.

“Nationally fraud and corruption levels are relatively low and so this perhaps lulls Swedish firms into a sense of security, despite the fact that these firms operate in a global international environment,” Johansson said.

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GERMANY

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents

German police have set up a special team to fight a growing number of forged vaccine certificates being sold in the black market

Germany cracks down on fake Covid vaccine documents
People who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Photo: Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

Police in Cologne have warned of a group of fraudsters selling fake vaccination certificates, a growing problem the scale of which is still unclear.

The police said the fraudsters worked in encrypted Telegram chats, making investigations difficult, and were selling fake documents with all the stamps and signatures, including a mark about vaccination with BioNTech or AstraZeneca.

READ ALSO: Germany probes Covid-19 testing centres for fraud

The fraud involved both real traffic in fake documents as well as scams luring customers into paying €100.

People in Germany who are fully vaccinated can show their vaccination booklet, which has a stamp and a sticker inside. Those who don’t have a booklet get a piece of paper.

Covid health passes are currently being rolled out across the EU, with a European health passport expected to be available from mid-June.

READ ALSO: What’s the latest on how the EU’s ‘Covid passports’ will work for travellers?

Over 44% of the adult population in Germany has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and more than 18% of Germans have been fully vaccinated.

German police have said forged coronavirus vaccine documents are becoming an increasing problem.

Last month, a couple in Baden-Württemberg was accused of selling fake coronavirus vaccination certificates.

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