Procurement due diligence remains in sharp focus following the release of civil society group Corruption Watch’s 2020 Analysis of Corruption Trends report on 22 September 2020. The report notes that procurement irregularities and misappropriation of resources each accounted for 14% of reported corruption cases for the first six months of the year.

Among the contraventions were wasteful spending, businesses operating as cartels paying kickbacks, flawed procurement processes in schools, and relaxed emergency public procurement measures which paved the way for irregularities in the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Businesses and public entities must remain mindful of the critical role of due diligence, since corrupt procurement processes can divert funds away from much needed services.

Offering a number of screening solutions to assist with vetting, LexisNexis South Africa recently launched a new tool, WorldCompliance™, to enhance due diligence within the procurement process. The solution is an add-on to the company’s existing procurement vetting tool, Lexis®ProcureCheck.

While access to similar solutions are widely available, they do come at a premium. However, LexisNexis has made it possible for more clients to make use of the tool at an affordable rate of R15 per search.

Legally all companies are required to ensure they do not conduct business with entities linked to any sanctions and watchlists, says Data Services General Manager, Rudi Kruger.

“WorldCompliance is a necessary solution as vendor fraud and corruption is a big concern for all industries. All government organisations and companies in business should have in place checks to meet the legal requirement not to engage with any person/company listed on sanctions and watchlists,” he said.

“It also helps protects reputational risk by not dealing with entities that are linked to adverse media scandals,” he added.

Kruger explained the product benefits. “LexisNexis WorldCompliance™ gives users easy access to conduct legally required screening for PEPS, sanctions, adverse media and other convictions using the industry-leading LexisNexis database. Containing more than 2.5 million detailed profiles, the database helps clients detect individuals, organisations and vessels linked to more than 50 risk categories; including sanctions, foreign officials, and state-owned enterprises. WorldCompliance™ also provides access to workflow and escalation processes with an alert driven process that highlights adverse findings.”

The beauty of the solution is it simplicity – any user would be able to work with this data set rather than only those tasked with audit, compliance and legal responsibility.

Detailed benefits include the ability to:

• Easily adapt and remain in compliance with constantly changing global regulatory requirements.
• Conform to more than 100 anti-terrorism and money laundering laws, including the USA PATRIOT ACT, the E.U. Anti-Money Laundering Directive and Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) guidelines.
• Save time and money with an intuitive, easy-to-use client interface.
• Instantly access pre-designed dashboards and reports with no software installations required.
• Tailor your investigative parameters to your company's specific requirements and output meaningful, actionable results.
• Deliver instant translation capability, passport validation and precisely drill down your result set by risk category, country, type of organisation and more, using the LexisNexis WorldCompliance Online Search tool.

Need help managing your procurement processes and ensuring compliance? Visit lexisnexis.co.za/lexisprocurecheck