Address the compliance failures or implication of oversight by the board. and why frameworks like the King IV Code propose strict suggestions for the composition of executive members of an organization? 

the CEO of  lets say "Rands Company", was fined R2 million for trying to expose the identity of a whistle-blower - and this amount of money was supposed to come out of his own pocket. additionally, the CEO employed a personal friend, lets say Natalie, as a senior executive in the company. This sparked a whistle-blower to report the conflict of interest via a series of letters accusing the CEO of hiding his relationship with Natalie from the board during recruitment. 

 

The CEO attempt to unmask the whistle-blower using the bank's own security unit was perceived as unethical and a misuse of internal resources. The CEO asked the Rands Company's' internal investigation team to identify the whistleblower by finding the author of the letters.. He considered these letters to be an unfair personal attack, and he "accused the letter writer of harassment and of trying to 'maliciously smear' the senior employee. Later after the investigation, the CEO claimed that he was unaware that he was not allowed to expose the identity of anonymous whistle-blowers. After the incident, external regulators forced Barclays to tighten its whistle-blower protection policies and the company was also charged. 

 

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Compliance Failures and Board Oversight Implications in the Rands Company Case Compliance Failures Attempting to identify a whistleblower The CEOs actions to unmask the whistleblower through the compa... View the full answer