A Guide to Detecting and Preventing Travel Agency Corruption (Part Three of Three)

Travel agency fraud, the practice of using travel agencies to generate cash for illicit purposes and to evade company hospitality restrictions, is running rampant in China and many other countries, anti-corruption experts say.  The recent Chinese investigation of GlaxoSmithKline for using relationships with local travel agencies to provide government officials (mainly medical professionals) with improper benefits is one example.  Travel agency fraud is now on the radar of government regulators in the U.S. and abroad and thus, must be on the radar of any company operating internationally.  To assist companies in strengthening their anti-corruption compliance programs with regard to the use of travel agents, the Anti-Corruption Report is publishing a three-part series on identifying and preventing corruption involving travel agents.  This, the third article in the series, provides five concrete suggestions for preventing and detecting such fraud.  The first article detailed how travel agency fraud is accomplished and examined the motivations underlying such fraud.  The second article outlined industries that are at particular risk for travel agency-related corruption schemes, explained why travel agency fraud is so difficult to detect and provided tips for strengthening company control over travel agents.  See also “Seven Lessons from China’s Bribery Investigation of GlaxoSmithKline” (Aug. 7, 2013). 

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