In March 2024, experts from the Ukrainian Corporate Governance Institute, with the support of the Corporate Governance Professional Association, conducted a specialised training program for anti-corruption program implementation officers (compliance officers) “Anti-Corruption Compliance” for representatives of companies that are part of the management of the Ukrainian Defense Industry Joint Stock Company (UDI JSC).

The training program’s success was mainly due to the active participation of about 40 dedicated individuals, including lawyers, compliance officers, and internal auditors. Most of the audience were anti-corruption officers instrumental in collective efforts to rebuild the anti-corruption infrastructure at UOP enterprises. More than thirty companies now have qualified, certified specialists who will play a key role in this important task.

The speakers of the program shared their best practices, experience and achievements, namely: Oleksandr Okuniev, Chairman of the CGPA Board of Directors; Maryana Marchuk, Counsel at Baker & McKenzie; Pavlo Verkhnyatskyi, Founder and CEO of COSA; Oleg Lahodiyenko, Director of Ethicontrol; Oleg Polishchuk, Board Member of the National Association of Anti-Corruption Compliance; Anatoliy Pyasetskyi, Leading Specialist in Educational Areas of the YouControl Academy, Compliance Expert, and representative of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC).

“Rebuilding the anti-corruption infrastructure is one of the main tasks set for our Company,” said Olena Kovaleva, Director of the Compliance and Risk Management Department of Ukrainian Defense Industry JSC, “This requires a systematic approach to each stage, careful study of the effectiveness of existing tools and measures, the quality of work of relevant specialists, the commitment of managers to integrity standards and the creation of a new internal culture based on the rejection of corruption at all levels – from labour to management”.

“Our anti-corruption commissioners must have a full range of modern tools in their arsenal and be able to use them effectively. We are pleased to create opportunities for each authorised representative of UDI enterprises to improve their skills, as well as to have the opportunity to meet more often offline to form an effective community of professionals,” says Maxim Kalinichenko, Compliance Manager of the Compliance and Risk Management Department of UDI JSC.

Upon completion of the training, the management of JSC UDI expressed gratitude for the well-organized and informative programs, emphasising that the CGPA experts and the Institute prepared and conducted a beneficial and informative program for employees, helping them to develop key skills necessary for their professional activities, showed a high level of expertise and managed to effectively transfer not only theoretical knowledge but also practical skills that employees can use in their daily work. The team was also recognised for its professional approach to planning and implementing training programs.