ACU Partners With Coca-Cola in Anti-Graft Agreement
During a four-hour pop concert in Phnom Penh to mark International Anti-Corruption Day on Monday, the Coca-Cola Company and the government’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) signed an agreement that commits the international soft drinks company to avoid committing bribery in Cambodia. “Corruption is the barrier to development and the barrier of economic improvement, and is also the barrier to a clean society and good governance,” ACU chairman Om Yentieng said in a speech at the event, before inviting Paul Popelier, the head of the Coca-Cola Company in Cambodia, to the stage. Mr. Popelier, who sipped from a can of Coca-Cola before signing the document, said later that the company hoped its agreement would have wide-reaching benefits. ... An English-language digest of the agreement distributed to the media said that Coca-Cola had signed the agreement to indicate the company’s “respect of the noble efforts of the Royal Government of Cambodia in fighting against corruption.” “Coca-Cola will continue to not participate in acts of corruption or bribery in order to set an example for the private sector in joining the combat against corruption,” the document says. The company also agreed to continue to educate its staff against participating in graft and to report to the ACU any attempts to corrupt staff. ...
Khy Sovuthy and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/acu-partners-with-coca-cola-in-anti-graft-agreement-48957/
