Blowing The Whistle. What's Wrong With Corporate Culture?

Published date23 July 2021
Subject MatterEmployment and HR, Discrimination, Disability & Sexual Harassment, Health & Safety, Whistleblowing
Law FirmWithers LLP
AuthorMs Meriel Schindler and Amarjit Kaur

Nobody goes into their workplace hoping to discover wrongdoing. Yet if an individual does discover a serious issue, such as financial impropriety or a safety violation, their next steps could define the rest of their career - perhaps the rest of their lives.

"Organisations are awash with mission statements, values and speak up policies," says Meriel Schindler, lead partner in Withers' London employment team. "Everyone talks about transparency. But when someone raises something that is uncomfortable, those in charge don't always welcome it."

Few whistleblowing cases ever become public, but Meriel's experience suggests that the vast majority follow the pattern of well-known examples such as Sherron Watkins, a former Enron vice president who highlighted accounting fraud and corruption to its chief executive, who immediately sought advice on how to fire her.

One whistleblower consulted us after being dismissed from a prominent bank, where he had worked in foreign exchange. As was reported in the press, the dismissal came in the wake of the LIBOR benchmark rigging scandal, which cost global banks more than '10 billion in regulatory fines. The case was eventually settled - but more than a year later the whistleblower is yet to find another job in banking.

Faced with this bleak outlook, many people choose to leave their jobs without blowing the whistle. Yet others feel a moral imperative to speak up.

That was the case for Pav Gill, the Singapore-based in-house lawyer who discovered serious financial improprieties at Wirecard. To remain quiet would have meant compromising his professional ethics. However his principles cost him dearly. After Wirecard tried to supress Pav's attempts to whistleblow and initiate investigations into the red flags, he was forced out of Wirecard. Thereafter, he lived in fear for his personal safety, being at the receiving end of retaliation from the company in the form of intimidation, threats, and being tailed. "It took tremendous courage for Pav to do what he did, at the cost of drawing Wirecard's wrath" observes Amarjit Kaur, the partner who advised Pav.

A lack of proper legislation to protect whistleblowers means that retaliation by employers is common in Singapore, says Amarjit. Yet employees continue to report...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT