Corporate liability for corruption and how to put adequate procedures in place.
What Section 17A does
Section 17A of the MACC Act 2009 makes a commercial organisation liable when a person associated with it commits corruption for the organisation's benefit. Directors and senior management can be held personally liable.
The only defence
An organisation must prove it had adequate procedures in place to prevent the offence. The Prime Minister's Department guideline (T.R.U.S.T. principles) sets out what 'adequate' means in practice.
What adequate procedures look like
A board-endorsed anti-bribery policy, risk assessment, due diligence on third parties, training records, gifts and hospitality register, whistleblowing channel, and periodic review. Paper alone isn't enough — there must be evidence of implementation.
How we help
We help boards draft and minute the right policies, build the compliance file, and document the review cycle so that if a problem ever surfaces, the adequate-procedures defence is genuinely available.
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