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The Ethics and Reputation Society TEID,  the host institution for Globethics.net Turkey, held the 7th International Ethics Summit on 16 June 16 at the Istanbul Bilgi University Santralistanbul campus, Turkey. Under the theme "As Waters Recede", international and local speakers examined how to return to business as usual after the ethical crises experienced by several global companies with the participation of more than 450 delegates.

The 7th International Ethics Summit was chaired by Monty Raphael, QC, a specialist in dealing with white-collar crime. Other speakers included Jerusa Burmann Viecili, from Brazil's Federal Public Prosecutor Curitiba Branch, which runs the Operation Car Wash anti-corruption investigation; Dr. Nikos Passas, an international expert on illicit financial/trade flows, organized crime and international crime; and internationally-recognized forensic scientist Prof. Dr Sevil Atasoy, Rector of Üsküdar University and the former president of the UN International Narcotics Control Board.

Jerusa Burmann Viecili, from Brazil's Federal Public Prosecutor Curitiba Branch, explained that Operation Car Wash began in 2014 as an investigation into a money-laundering scheme run out of a gas station. Since then, the probe by the Brazilian Federal Police, Curitiba Branch, has revealed institutional corruption on a vast scale, covering allegations of corruption at the state-controlled oil company Petrobras, where executives allegedly accepted bribes in return for awarding contracts to construction firms at inflated prices. This criminal "system" is known as "Petrolão - Operation Car Wash." The scandal that has tarnished Brazil's political establishment and business elite continues to unfold, leading to the impeachment of Brazil's president in 2016 and to the arrests of hundreds of legislators, governors, mayors, political bosses, and business executives.

Brazilian Federal Prosecutor Jerusa Burmann Viecili has worked in the Operation Car Wash investigation unit since 2015. Viecili, who is also known for investigations into Brazil's state-run oil giant Petrobras, spoke about developments in the Operation Car Wash case and the judicial role in fighting corruption at the 7th International Ethical Summit of the TEID.

Another keynote speaker Prof. Dr Nikos Passas, an international expert on corruption, illicit financial/trade flows, sanctions, informal fund transfers, remittances, terrorism, white-collar crime, financial regulation, organized crime and international crimes, spoke about international corruption and organized crime in the business world.

Nikos Passas is professor of criminology and criminal justice at the Northeastern University, Co-Director of the Institute for Security and Public Policy, and editor-in-chief of the international journal Crime, Law and Social Change. The author of more than 220 publications in 14 languages, Passas is an adviser to governments, financial institutions and intergovernmental organizations including the United Nations, the European Union, OECD, IMF and World Bank. He trains companies, law enforcement, intelligence and private sector officials on regulatory and financial crime subjects.  

Prof. Dr Passas's current projects focus on anti-corruption authorities, the development of performance indicators to assess anti-corruption, integrity and accountability in several countries, corruption and procurement regulation, trade-facilitated financial crime, the regulation of remittance flows in cash-based societies, and on use of IT for the enhancement of due diligence conducted by financial institutions.

The 7th International Ethics Summit had a focus on how companies can recover from an ethical crisis, manage communication and reputation to rebuild their reputations, and implement ethics and compliance policies as their keystone in today's business world.

•    Read more about the 7th International Ethics Summit "As Waters Recede"
•    Find out more about our Regional Programme Turkey