ASIC has released a new immunity policy setting out the process and conditions for whistleblowers to obtain immunity from certain civil penalty or criminal proceedings (Immunity Policy). The Immunity Policy extends the types of protection available to a whistleblower beyond those which became available under the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Act 2019 (Cth) (Whistleblowing Legislation) which came into force in 2019. As a result there is an increased risk that employees may elect to go direct to ASIC rather than raising an issue internally.

The Supreme People’s Procuratorate, China’s national prosecutor and investigator, has reported an uptick in investigations and prosecution of bribery cases for the first quarter of 2015.