Deloitte launches toll-free hotline for whistleblowers

WINDHOEK DENVER ISAACS

Professional services firm Deloitte and Touche yesterday launched a new toll-free hotline service, through which employees of local companies can to report fraud and other ethical breaches anonymously.
The service, which requires a subscription from interested companies, is already operative since 1999 in South Africa, Malawi, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany, among others.
Launching the service in Windhoek yesterday, Deloitte Namibia Partner in Risk Advisory, Jens Kock, said organisations lose an estimated 5% of their revenue each year to fraud, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE).
In addition, he said, tip-offs have proven internationally to have the highest detection rate for fraud, adding it was important for management and staff to be able to identify various types of fraud and have a means to report this.
Informants can report any ethical or compliance- related issues, the company said, to a fully computerised centre at which carefully selected contact centre agents will be responsible for separating facts from hearsay and ensuring the secrecy of the whistleblower's identity.
Deloitte would depend on internal crime prevention policies and risk management processes from the companies using the service, in determining how to use the collected information, he said.
De Loitte and Touche Manager for Risk Advisory Services, Alex Klein, said: When the whistleblower contacts the hotline via the toll-free number, email or website, the Deloitte Ethics Consultant would remove the whistleblower's identity, capture the report and forward a notification to the manager responsible who would alert the client.
At this point the client would use their own discretion at what further action, including forensic investigation and the like, would need to be taken to fully investigate the matter.