In the context of this policy the following terms are understood to mean:
Corruption: offering, promising or assigning any illicit benefit or requesting or accepting any illicit benefit with the aim of being awarded a contract or an assignment.
The illicit benefit is offered/promised/assigned to or requested/accepted by:
Deloitte Belgium: all legal entities of Deloitte set up on Belgian territory.
Staff: all persons committed by means of a contract to one of the abovementioned legal entities as a director, senior manager, manager, senior or junior.
Deloitte Belgium is committed to working in an ethical, lawful, and professional manner. Deloitte Belgium takes a clear stand in the fight against corruption: no forms of corruption whatsoever will be tolerated. Therefore, Deloitte Belgium, its partners and staff will be guided by the following principles:
This position is not only determined by the fact that corruption is a crime which is heavily punished in Belgium. Corruption is a practice that cannot be associated with a respectable business, if only to avoid the damage which may be caused by being associated with corrupt practices. Corruption also harms both the economy and society as a whole: corruption disrupts free and fair competition and promotes individual interest to the detriment of the general interest.
This policy prohibits donations (financial or other) to political parties or individual politicians. Belgian law explicitly forbids legal entities to make such political donations.
In compliance with Belgian legislation Deloitte advises all its partners against making political donations (financial or other)1. The same goes for all staff providing services to the authorities in their professional capacity. For all other staff, political donations (financial or other) are a purely personal matter. Under no circumstances can such donations be recovered from Deloitte Belgium. Deloitte staff members are not allowed to use Deloitte assets/resources to support political activities or campaigns.
1 Political donations (financial or other) are understood to be, for example: making financial contributions in favor of a political party, paying a sum of money in cash to an individual politician, making boards available for election campaigns, etc.