Whistleblower policy
PURPOSE
IFG Cresco, part of Duroc, is committed to a high standard of openness, honesty and accountability. Our employees and business partners are the most important source of insight for revealing possible misconduct that needs to be addressed. The purpose of this Whistleblower Policy is to encourage employees and other stakeholders to report on suspected misconduct without any risk of retaliation, as well as to ensure an appropriate investigation process.
DEFINITIONS
Whistleblowing
Employees are usually the first ones to realize potential discrepancies and wrongdoings. Whistleblowing is the opposite of turning a “blind eye” to these problems and can be described as drawing the management’s attention to potentially illegal and/or fraudulent practices or other wrongdoings.
Wrongdoing
Wrongdoing that is encouraged to be reported according to the whistleblower process are any unlawful or illegal behavior or other serious improprieties related to:
- Accounting, internal accounting controls and auditing matters
- Bribery, banking- and financial crime
- Other serious improprieties concerning Duroc’s (IFG Cresco’s) vital interests or
- an individual’s life or health, including deficiencies regarding the safety of the workplace, severe forms of discrimination and harassment and significant environmental crimes
- Failure to rectify or take reasonable steps to report a matter likely to cause a significant and avoidable cost or loss to Duroc (IFG Cresco).
This is not an exhaustive list but rather examples of the kind of conduct, which might be considered wrongdoings.
PROTECTION
Duroc (IFG Cresco) will protect employees, who discloses information or raises a concern in good faith, from disciplinary actions.
A person who blows the whistle does not need to have firm evidence for expressing a suspicion. However, deliberate reporting of false or malicious information is forbidden. Abuse of the whistleblowing service is a serious disciplinary offence.
We encourage anybody who shares a concern to be open with their identity. All messages received will be handled confidentially. For those wishing to remain anonymous, Duroc (IFG Cresco) also offers a channel for anonymous reporting.
PROCESS
Contact persons
Anyone with a complaint or concern should contact his or her supervisor, manager or the person in charge of the department that provides the relevant service. The supervisor or manager will decide if the issue needs to be escalated based on the seriousness and sensitivity of the issues involved and the person suspected of wrongdoing.
If the complaint is in regard to your supervisor, manager or any other person in direct line of command for you, you may report a complaint to one of the below individuals:
The whistleblowing team
The Chief Financial Officer, Nina Grönberg, nina.gronberg@duroc.com
The board member, Carina Heilborn, carina@pg-ab.se
The board member, Carl Östring, carl.ostring@traction.se
Web-based channel for anonymous reporting
We also offer a web-based channel for anonymous reporting. This reporting tool is provided by an external partner, WhistleB, to ensure anonymity. All messages are encrypted, and no IP-address or other meta-data are saved. Access to messages received through the whistleblower communication channel is restricted to the appointed individuals in the whistleblowing team. When needed, individuals who can add expertise may be included in the whistleblowing case.
The channel for anonymous reporting can be reached on https://report.whistleb.com/duroc
Response and Assistance
Upon receiving a whistleblowing message, the whistleblowing team decides whether to accept the concern as a wrongdoing under this whistleblowing policy. To assess if a concern qualifies for whistleblowing the whistleblowing team will conduct an initial inquiry and duly investigate the matter in question. Duroc (IFG Cresco) will act on any concern raised.
In a situation where the raised concern involves a person in the whistleblower team, the inquiry and investigation will be performed by the other two persons in the team. A message will not be investigated by anyone who may be involved with or connected to the misgiving. All whistleblowing communication and investigation are handled confidentially by the parties involved.
Dependent of the nature of the matter it will either: Be investigated internally, be handed over to the Police or other law enforcement authorities, be referred to the independent auditor, be subject of an independent inquiry.
More info: https://www.duroc.com/om-duroc/sustainable-value-creation/whistleblower-policy/