[Liwei Wang]

The failure to conduct anti-bribery and anti-corruption due diligence can lead to severe legal and financial consequences, as well as reputational damages. For buyers, ABAC due diligence can be especially critical because, under principles of successor liability, a buyer may be held liable for pre-closing bribery and corruption violations by the target. However, it is not straightforward to find out the ABAC issues, eg. kickbacks paid in cash. Could you share how to effectively conduct ABAC DD, are there any best practices, tools or expenses?

[Ebrima B Sawaneh]

I agree that ABAC DD is one of the most complex ones. However, there are specialists that can do this and it is best to use them. Nonetheless, you can some special tools like Worldcheck. They help to do some initial scanning. Also, Google search may help under the news tab.

[Yanxuan Yang]

I believe there are firms specialized in this aspect and they can be engaged to perform ABAC DD. It sounds like part of the legal DD process or it could also be mitigated by certain clauses in the transaction documents. In addition, ABAC clearance would have also been done at the KYC stage, employing tools such as Worldcheck and Google search.

[Roberto Landa]

Can a faulty ABAC in an organization be fixed when the acquirer organization integrates P&P. Or bad ABAC practices corrode from the inside. is this a cultural as well as policy issue?

[Mohammed Aldubayyan]

it’s true that there are specialized firms who can be hired to conduct ABAC DD. However, one of their main limitations is that they don’t operate in all districts/countries. For cross-border deals, ABAC issues will become more problematic.

[Po Huang]

I would suggest to look at the company’s compliance program in monitoring anti-bribery and anti-corruption violations to assess the effectiveness of corporate governance as a starting point.

[Dalia Abushulaih]

anti-corruption due diligence practice best practices should cover the business activities, ethics, and principals. It also assesses the company standing from and a political standing.

[caroline dussault]

WHich stream is responsible to conduct this DD: it is the legal stream?

[JAL]

I would suggest conducting a thorough risk assessment to identify areas of the business most vulnerable to bribery and corruption risks. This should be based on factors like geography, industry sector, transaction types, and business partnerships.

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