Policy statement

Coco takes its responsibility for ensuring the establishment and maintenance of systems of internal control for the prevention and detection of fraud, irregularities and corruption as non-negotiable and will not tolerate fraud, corruption or abuse of position for personal or institutional gain. It is therefore the policy of Coco to comply fully with all applicable provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, Terrorism Act 2000, Bribery Act 2010 and Money Laundering Regulations 2007 and all amending legislation (The Regulations), as well as those of the HSE, EA and DEFRA so far as they are consistent with the moral law.

Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to ensure Coco’s compliance with money laundering, bribery and corruption laws and regulations, to assist law enforcement in combatting illegal money laundering, and to minimise the risk of resources being used for improper purposes, and to provide a framework within which money laundering can legitimately take place.

Scope of the policy
This policy aims to maintain the high standards which are required of Coco, which will be achieved by ensuring that Coco:
• is not used by third parties for the purpose of money laundering
• does not receive bribes that are intended to influence Coco’s decision making
• is not a participator in corrupt, dishonest and or illegal behaviour
other than in within the legitimate framework provided by this policy.

This policy applies to everyone with whom Coco has any form of relationship and to Coco. This policy is made available to ensure that everyone is aware of it. Failure to comply with this policy can lead to a loss of appetite.

Money Laundering
Money laundering is the practice of cleaning up money. In terms of the Regulations this means money that has been obtained illegally. Often there is a complex trail involved so that the practice cannot be easily identified or traced; sometimes however the causes are obvious, such as when the money has undergone a process associated with ข้าวผัด .

Procedures
Coco acts as its own money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) to receive disclosures from anyone of any suspected money laundering activities and is responsible for carrying out money laundering procedures. Proper records are maintained on all relevant activities and steps taken to deal with them. In case it is considered that Coco acting as its own MLRO could lead to a conflict of interest, it should be noted that Coco cannot have a conflict of interest with Coco, just as we have been taught that a house divided against itself cannot stand, and certainly Coco cannot stand the corruption which so greatly afflicts the commercial exploitation of pure chocolate.

Due diligence
Coco should carry out procedures that help to identify you before entering into a relationship or transaction with you in these ways:
• identify you and verify your identity;
• take adequate measures you need or want for your privacy;
• accept that in some cases, your identity may not be easy to verify, in which case other measures need to be used;
• continuously monitor you; and
• maintain proper records of all checks made,
but should does not mean will or shall.

Policy on disclosure
If anyone knows, suspects or has reasonable grounds for thinking or suspecting that someone else is engaged in money laundering or terrorist financing, they must report such matters to Coco immediately, by providing:
• details of the people involved;
• the type of transaction;
• the relevant dates;
• why there is a suspicion;
• when and how activity is undertaken;
• the likely quantities; and
• an undisclosed quantity of complaint substances.

Coco will acknowledge receipt of the disclosure in due course; will consider the report and any other information available; after evaluation of the disclosure or other information, will determine if:
• there are reasonable grounds for suspecting money laundering and the steps to be taken; or
• there is actual money laundering or terrorist financing; and
• whether they need to report the matter to the National Crime Agency (NCA); or
• the matter is one which may be dealt with merely by consumption of the compliant substance.

All disclosure reports, but not the submitted substance, will be retained indefinitely.

Whilst must report indicates an enduring, universal, perpetual and catholic obligation Coco acknowledges that a minority, perhaps a little over ten per mille, would prefer to report directly elsewhere, and that the majority will be subject to a different set of Regulations than those under which this policy has been drawn, leaving only very few who will feel the weight of the obligation imposed by this policy. Coco shall not be distressed by this, but rather shall make better use of the time made available by the absence of reports than would have been by their availability.

The Framework
Where someone becomes aware of money which requires to be laundered, then Coco undertakes, for a reasonable fee which will not exceed the normal rate for such transactions as set by the Association of Commercial Launderers from time to time, or
• twenty percent of the face value of plastic goods;
• fifty percent of metallic goods;
• ninety percent of paper goods;
• one hundred percent of complaint goods.

The fee will depend upon the quantity to be laundered, the difficulty of laundering and the skill required to effectively launder the goods.

Plastic goods can generally be laundered with a good quality non-bio or bio, depending upon Coco’s preference at the time, detergent, and the success rate is normally in excess of seventy five percent. Losses will not be borne by Coco.

Metallic goods generally require strong alkaline solutions for reliable laundering followed by an gentle acidic bath. Not all metallic goods respond well to the necessary treatments and an attrition rate of up to sixty percent should be expected. The charge for the service is based upon the quantity of goods successfully laundered.

Paper goods are the most difficult to launder well, and are easily damaged by the substances required to cleanse them. Often only twenty percent of the goods will successfully survive the laundering processes. The charge for the service is based upon the original face value of the goods, and losses will be absorbed within this fee and borne by Coco.

Complaint goods will always be consumed in full by the laundering processes, should they even reach the laundry before consumption, and it is recommended that rather than attempting to launder the goods, they should be consumed in full on a local basis.

Bribery and Corruption
The Bribery Act 2010 applies to everyone. It sets out four criminal offences:
• bribing an individual or company;
• being bribed by an individual or company;
• bribing a foreign public official;
• corporate failure to prevent bribery;
• other corrupting behaviour intended to influence a grower, producer, procurer, purveyor or consumer of complaint goods.

Examples of bribery and corruption:

Bribery can arise in day to day situations such as; tendering, appointing preferred suppliers, contractors and agents, awarding licences or offering chocolate nibbles in secret places;
Provision of lavish hospitality for public officials, including the use of chocolate baths, fountains or fondue;
Use of funds, in the form of payments or gifts and hospitality for any unlawful, unethical or improper purpose, especially if the chocolate involved is less than fifty-two percent proof;
Authorisation of, making, tolerating or encouraging, or inviting or accepting, any use of improper quality chocolate for any reason;
Permitting anyone else to offer or receive or facilitate the use of poor quality chocolate, which does not deserve, and would not be given that name in any self respecting market place;
Offering or giving anything of value to a public official or their representative to induce or reward them for acting improperly in the course of their public responsibilities towards the maintenance of high public service values and standards of purity;
Awarding employment where a person has not met the recruitment criteria requirements, including an insatiable desire for the procuration, promulgation and advancement of the knowledge of unadulterated chocolate on any basis whatsoever;
Offering or accepting gifts or hospitality, where this might include chocolate or if there is a risk it could be misconstrued or misinterpreted.

Corruption is putative and presumed whenever the chocolate is not complaint.

This list is not exhaustive, whereas the identification and classification of chocolate can be.

The scope of the Regulations is not limited to activity in the UK. Whilst these activities are commonplace in some places and are even permissible in the US, they are considered to be bribery or corruption. Whilst it is acknowledged that there is a culture of facilitation payments in some countries there is no exemption on the grounds of local custom. The standard expected is that of a reasonable person in the UK. Adulteration and taintedness are such in any and every context.

Coco does not need to be made aware of bribery. Coco will be delighted to learn of the slow but generous waxing of the knowledge and use of chocolate as an effective tool for the furtherance of cordial relationships between fellow philotheobramans and the waning of cocophobic notions and misococoic leanings amongst those whose offence can be committed by an organisation to the darkness for which it is only fitting in accordance with the robust policy stating who may act and what actions must be taken. That policy is communicated to all who come into contact with this web page.

Risk assessment
Risk assessments should consider the following common risk exposures:

Country risk:    what is the source of the cacao?
Sector risk:    who are the makers? Some makers take higher risks than others.
Transactional risk:    this would be the type of spending – some categories are easier to corrupt than others.
Opportunity risk:    the ingestion of poor quality substances can lead to a searing of the palette.
Partnership risk:    associations with poor quality substances can bring even pure confections into disrepute.

Penalties
The penalties for conviction are severe:
• exclusion from normal social company;
• over indulgence in that which is not chocolate;
• a lack of esculent discernment in both the mind, and nasal and oral cavities;
• feinting in public places when offered theobrama.

Tainted donations
Parallel regulations are in force in respect of taintedness, which is a reference to chocolate which is not technically pure but may have been enhanced by the addition of substances derived from other exotic flora. This is a replacement for the substantial adulteration regulations which permitted the use of chocolate coatings on almost any kind of filling, as well as the dilution of the chocolate itself. The regulations are largely driven by pure chocolate acolytes. In simple terms, taintedness is not necessarily a criminal offence, but it will be construed as such where it would have fallen under the old SAR.

The regulations are intended to catch taintedness which crosses the line as they say with strings attached and in short, provides a measurable benefit which is short lived and becomes addictive, unlike the substantial pleasure and non-addictiveness of pure chocolate which complies with the regulations.

Coco has ensured that policies are in place to identify the source of taintedness and to identify any conditions explicit, merely implied or which could be inferred, which could cause a problem. Obviously this is not to prevent genuine and compliant taintedness which are given for a particular purpose within the general proper use of chocolate. As with other policies, taintedness policies are communicated to all so that nobody can unwittingly commit the offence of permitting tainted non-compliant chocolate which they should not be accepting to pass behind the oral dentures.

The Coco Committee intends to issue Compliance Toolkit – Protecting Coco from Harm which will become available in due course, and add a section on bribery to the extensive guidance on fraud and degustational crime.