BVU appoints Juan Jiménez to head new Public Compliance practice

June 18, 2024

BENITES, VARGAS & UGAZ ABOGADOS (BVU) has hired Former Prime Minister and former Peruvian Minister of Justice and Human Rights Juan Jiménez Mayor to head up its new Public Compliance practice, with the aim of advising clients on the prevention of corruption offences, complying with the law in its various aspects, and improving anti-corruption standards at all levels, both in state bodies and public companies.

After his diplomatic experience, Jiménez returns to the firm in the position of Of Counsel of the new practice. He is supported by a multidisciplinary team that provides comprehensive advice on corruption risk management, integrity policies, integrity office performance, whistleblowing channels and transparency. The team includes Liliana Calderón, Roberto Pereira, Daniel Loli, Fabricio Daneri and Marjori Salvador.

Several opinion polls conducted in Peru show that corruption is one of the main problems we have to face, and although the response has been strongly focused on criminal law, since 2016, with the enactment of Law 30424, it has sought to promote a preventive system that involves private companies in the development of compliance programmes to avoid the commission of criminal offences.

In a way, the dynamic that is being imposed implies that companies become guarantors of preventive mechanisms, so that crimes do not take place and a culture of compliance and integrity is instilled.

The Peruvian model of prevention, with the recent Law 31740, has extended compliance to thirty offences, broadening its scope of application, which will have an impact on the business world, which will have to adapt in order to mitigate the risks that this entails for their operations.

In this area, the Peruvian firm has assisted and continues to assist its clients in implementing and strengthening their compliance programmes, taking into account jurisprudential trends and judicial approaches to criminal law enforcement, as well as international best practices. In doing so, it is important to draw on the extensive practical experience of its market-leading criminal law practice.
 
With the approval of the National Integrity and Anti-Corruption Plan 2018-2021 (D.S. N° 044-2018-PCM), the Integrity Model for Public Sector Entities was established, which also aims to increase the State’s capacity to prevent or mitigate the commission of corruption offences. In this area, the Secretariat for Integrity of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers has developed the PREVENTIVE CAPACITY INDEX (ICP) against corruption, which evaluates the standards of the aforementioned model, thus building an agenda for institutional strengthening.
 
The ICP measures the nine components of the model and makes it possible to design measures to improve the conditions for compliance with the model, resulting in a better organisation to prevent the commission of illegal acts.

The components are:
 
1. Top management commitment
2. Risk management
3. Integrity policy
Transparency, Open Data and Accountability 5.
5. Internal and External Controls and Auditing
6. Communication and training
7. Whistleblowing channel
8. Oversight and monitoring of the integrity model
9. Integrity Model Manager
 
As part of its social responsibility and in order to promote a public sector with fewer criminal incidents, the company has developed a series of products aimed at the development of Public Compliance, in order to contribute to the improvement of the preventive performance of public bodies and to seek a performance with integrity of civil servants and public employees.

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