GLOBAL CORRUPTION AND PUBLIC INTEGRITY: THE HUMAN FACTOR

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Whistleblowers Stories WHO SUFFERED RETALIATION

Babita Deokaran curtesy BluePrint

RIP Babita Deokaran (South Africa)

This story was originally published by Blueprint for Free Speech. An edited version is republished here with permission. South African health agency whistleblower Babita Deokaran was a key witness in a long-running investigation into alleged corruption in the procurement of essential personal protective equipment (PPE) for medics in the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 23 August 23, 2021, she was gunned down outside her home in what the authorities believe was a targeted killing.    Babita Deokaran joined the health department in Gauteng province as a state accountant 15 years ago. She rose through the ranks to the position of chief director of financial accounting. In this post she controlled the paper trail of payments made to government service providers, and was privy to evidence of irregularities. According to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), an agency in South Africa that undertakes forensic probes into corruption allegations at state

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Nestle Whistleblower

The #MeToo movement, whistleblowing & leadership failure

Yasmine Motarjemi won her appeal against Nestlé in her lengthy whistleblowing case in Switzerland on 7 January 2020, it was announced. In a statement she responded: “My judicial battle continues, as I still have to fight on many fronts, including for my financial survival. However, I hope that this recent breakthrough will mark a turning point in my long struggle for ethical behavior, justice and respect for human rights.”

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Bianca

Bianca Goodson (South Africa)

This story was originally published by Blueprint for Free Speech. An edited version is republished here with permission. Goodson’s brave public disclosure exposed the corrupt activities of the Gupta family, the starting point for South Africa’s investigation into whole-of-state corruption South Africa’s detailed investigation into high level public corruption started in 2016, when the independent Public Protector’s office published an influential report titled State of Capture and strongly recommended that a full scale inquiry follow. At the start of 2016 Bianca Goodson had been headhunted to head the management division of a South African financial advisory firm, Trillian Capital. By the time Goodson left her job, just three months later, she was well aware that her employer was right in the centre of the original state capture allegations. She also realised that what she knew about Trillian’s relations with the influential Gupta brothers and state owned enterprises in South Africa

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Patricia Mashale (South Africa)

Patricia Mashale (South Africa)

South Africa’s Police Service failed to respect confidentiality and exposed whistleblower Mashale and her family to a terrifying campaign of retaliation Patricia Mashale was a senior administrative clerk working in the police firearms department in the Free State province of South Africa. In 2018 she made a protected disclosure to her commanding officer that illegal firearms destined for destruction were being sold by police officials to criminal syndicates. Nothing came of her complaint, so she reported it to the former national police commissioner, General Khehla Sitole. In 2020 Sitole referred the case to the head of the priority crimes division in the Free State, who appointed a task team to investigate . Soon afterwards Mashale found out that her identity as whistleblower had been compromised. The investigation was immediately halted. According to Mashale, it has never been revived. In January 2021, Mashale blew the whistle again. This time she made

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Athol Williams

Athol Williams (South Africa)

Williams’ disclosures about US-based consultancy Bain & Co formed a central plank of the Zondo Commission’s investigations Athol Williams was a business strategy advisor and lecturer in business ethics at the University of Cape Town when he blew the whistle on unethical and potentially corrupt practices by US-based consultancy Bain & Company in South Africa. Williams had had a long history with the consultancy, which he had worked for on five separate occasions. In 2010 he had resigned from Bain due to reservations about the management style of the new head of Bain’s South African operation Vittorio Massone – but he had stayed on friendly terms with many of his former colleagues and felt a residual sense of loyalty towards the company. By 2018, Bain was embroiled in controversy over its relationship with the South African Revenue Service (SARS), whose Commissioner had a close association with the consultancy. An independent

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