A PATCHWORK OF LEGISLATION
Around the world, whistleblowing has a track record of protecting companies from errant employees.
A 2022 global study by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners examined more than 2,000 cases of fraud committed by individuals against the organisations that employ them, totalling losses of more than US$3.6 billion.
It found that 42 per cent of such fraud was initially detected from tip-offs, compared to 16 per cent detected through internal audit. More than half of those tip-offs came from employees themselves.
In Singapore, whistleblowers are protected through pieces of legislation targeted at specific groups of informants or types of information, said Mr Abdul Jabbar, head of the corporate and transactional group at Rajah & Tann Singapore.
For example, the Prevention of Corruption Act protects those who report corruption. The Workplace Safety and Health Act protects those who report safety breaches and hazards in a work environment.
The Companies Act protects auditors from defamation suits and from liability for reporting fraud in good faith. Separate legislation covers specific whistleblowing on drug trafficking, terrorism financing, competition…
