ABC

I was greeted by news of Isa Samad being found guilty of corruption on The Edge this morning and just 24 hours before, I attended an Anti Bribery and Corruption (ABC) course conducted by Time.com for all their contractors and suppliers. 

Having been involved and responsible for the contract awards in mega projects in so many countries around the world in my previous life, I must say that I do know a thing or two about bribery and corruption! In fact I was subjected to constant audits due to the position that I was in.  

The worst was when I was doing some PRO BONO work for World Bank and AusAid (Australian Aid) to rebuild the Solomon Islands after an earthquake and tsunami in 2004.  

The project, for a contract specialist such as myself, was considered a huge success for a few reasons: 

1. It was within the budgets provided by AusAid. 

2. It was awarded in the shortest time possible without compromising any of the processes that could raise the red flag. 

3. The design chosen took into account the local culture, traditional know-how skills and yet the supplier had managed to interlace the modern disaster resistance to ensure that the structure would withstand the next earthquake. 

4. The structure was built at the suppliers' premise to overcome the supply issue in Solomon Islands, flat packed and shipped to Honiara with all the necessary tools, bolts and nuts, IKEA style!  

BEFORE & AFTER:

It was a work of genius! 😀

Throughout this project, I was working from Sinclair Knight Merz office in Melbourne with my daughter Natasha, being installed at the nearby Intercontinental Hotel. While I was burning the midnight oil, the hotel butler was raking in cash by taking Tasha to watch Cirque du Soleil, visits to the Aquarium, Zoo, McDonalds and the list went on. 

On the last day, we had a meeting with World Bank and AusAid to finalise the payment to the Supplier when my colleague, Paul Mulgrew casually asked about my daughter. I jokingly told him  how she was making me bankrupt by ordering room service 3 times a day and using the butler service at her whims and fancies! 

The representatives from World Bank overheard the conversation and for months after that they never left me alone. It was almost like it was their ultimate goal to find dirt on me! 

Anyway, after a few weeks, all was resolved and I was given a clean bill of financial health and invited to undertake another project by them. Errr..."thanks but no thanks", was all I could muster after all the energy being drained in trying to defend myself against the bombardment regarding my financial status! So much for doing pro bono work, huh.      

The point is that this ABC policy is good but applied overzealously, it may put people (like me) off from doing the world a lot of good completely. So, the question I asked Time.com yesterday was, where do you draw the line? 

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