BP Sacks 252 Over Unethical Behaviour
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252 people were sacked by oil giant BP last in an anti-corruption drive. The dismissals amounted to a 50% increase over the previous year. BP's annual report on environmental sustainability and corporate governance, said the dismissals were for "unethical behaviour". Theft, fraud and harassment were blamed. CEO of BP, Lord Browne commented "Human ingenuity will always find something to get up to. It is our job to track it down." BP, as a massive, multinational oil company with listings in the US is subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. This is in addition to the increasingly onerous reporting standards in the UK and Europe. In response to the increased regulatory regime and corporate scandals, BP set up a team to govern legal compliance and business ethics across the group. To quote the report "Energy companies need robust systems for ensuring compliance with laws, regulations and standards. Continuing the report says, " Complying with health and safety regulations, for example, can literally be a case of life and death. Very clear rules on business relationships are essential when there is any scope for bribery or fraud in dealing with suppliers or governments." Reviewing the comments both by Lord Browne and the report, shows BP in a relatively good light in terms of internal controls. (Of course we do not have the whole picture or knowledge of BP's internal controls or processes.) We will review the implications for internal controls in a separate article.
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