 Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem and As-Salaam-e-Alaikum everyone, back to corporate governance and we are moving forward with whistleblowing, we have looked at the different factors affecting whistleblowing, the different types of whistleblowing, the fundamentals of whistleblowing and now we are going to come to a very important part of whistleblowing which is the process of whistleblowing, that what are the steps that should be taken by the organization and the whistleblower while looking at whistleblowing. So there should be a structure and a mechanism in place so that whistleblowing can be institutionalized so that it can be considered in the right way so that the consequences of whistleblowing do not adversely affect the organization but actually are considered to be a more of a corrective action and it should not be based upon retribution or adversity or enmity or some other factor which would have multiple implications for the organization and for the different people involved in the whole process of whistleblowing. So we are going to look at the process of whistleblowing today ladies and gentlemen, it has different steps, five different steps within the whole process so let us look at the different steps of whistleblowing. So in the first step it is very important to reduce opportunities to commit unethical or illegal conduct even as a whistleblower, new employees must be screened effectively and there should be no opportunities that could motivate unethical or illegal conduct so that is a very important so right at the beginning they should be the right orientation, they should be the right selection process, they should be the right motivation and people should be made aware about what whistleblowing is all about, what are its consequences, what is the process, how it can be undertaken ladies and gentlemen. Now regular reinforcement should also be done to motivate employees to avoid any wrong doing through different laws so again it is not that you just once orient or give that information to the employees but it should be done on a regular basis preferably on a six monthly basis so that should be done by the human resource department or by the ethical committee or by the ethics manager within an organization and it is very sad to mention that maybe I may not be able to mention those cases because they are still confidential that some very good companies in Pakistan who are multinationals they tend to motivate employees to whistle blow but when an employee whistle blows then there is retaliation against that employee and that employee has to suffer so a double message should not be sent, the message should be clear, it should be candid, it should be pragmatic and it should be straightforward and it should not be a sugar coated poison. Establish if the observed activity is actually wrong so again that is very important that naturally whistleblowing is based upon observation and it has to be also ascertained that it is actually wrong and not only a little bit of a deviation or not only a little bit of flexibility but is actually malefied with bad intention and activity will be wrong if it is illegal, unethical or illegitimate and the decision to report the perceived activity should be determined by the seriousness of the act. So again ladies and gentlemen it has to be illegal, it has to be unethical, it should be illegitimate, it should be disconforming to any established law and the seriousness of the act would be determined based upon how it is being reported and that is extremely important. Now so the second step is if the reporting is effective there is no other action that can be taken and that the personal position of the whistleblower do not influence the decision. So again the whistleblowing episode or the whistleblowing context should be looked independent of the person's position power authority and it should be given a proper understanding and proper analysis that what are the implications for the organization. Step 3 is the uses of internal mechanisms in the organization to raise concerns. So again there should be internal mechanisms, there should be proper platforms where whistleblowing can be done, critical information systems or internal reporting mechanisms must be in place in the organization at an appropriate level. So these CIS which is the critical information system or the IRMs the internal reporting mechanisms must be in place so that they can facilitate whistleblowing and they can encourage people to come out and share what is going wrong in the organization. This is done to ensure that the employees follow the correct internal channels and do not go to the damaging external channels like a regulator or the media because once it goes into the media then it becomes sensational and then sometimes the regulators also does not understand what are the implications of certain actions or certain decisions they might not be malefied, they might have been done with good content but they might not be following the proper matrixes or the process flows but there might be some consideration for it. So first of all it should be that the mechanism or the process which is established should be undertaken internally before it goes external because later on then there is a lot of human cry. The fourth step is that organization policies and procedures must be used and applied to what they are doing. Once the whistle has been blown the organization should take action and investigate the matter even if there is a dispute as to whether or not the activity is legitimate or not. So again there should be not an option just to throw it into the trash can and dispose it of the whistle blowing episode or content should be professionally meticulously and articulately studied, analyzed and then a decision should be taken that what is happening is it right or wrong and what are the remedies to that particular decision. The organization might choose to take steps or might ignore the whistleblower depending on the policies and procedures of the organization there is a danger that in an open door policy run by a corrupt management they might work against the whistleblower and that is very common. So what we see is that retaliation and victimization tends to take place and the whistleblower gets cornered and usually sometimes also gets terminated and has to face a lot of penalties for their right doing and raising their voice. So that should not be the case in any organization. So the last step is basically that once internal mechanisms are not responding then as a last resort one can justify external whistleblowing when all of the internal channels have basically been exhausted. So that comes into play. The whistleblowers often choose the external channel if they are of the opinion that the case might be treated as more credible. So on a more serious note what we see is that the whistleblowers have many complications and implications and in these complications and implications the whistleblower has to take many decisions and also follow the processes which are given by the organization. Many a times when they follow the processes and steps given by the organization their voice is snubbed or they face retaliation or victimization and they are sometimes pushed outside of the organization whereby they not only lose their job but they also have to face many problems within society. Many a times the organizational management if it is unethical they come up and conjure up different stories against the person who is blowing the whistle. They come up with stories of corruption, they come up with stories of sexual harassment, they come up with different issues personalizing the whole issue so that they can discredit the whistleblower. Now that takes place in many organizations across the world and also in organizations within Pakistan and we see that a person must be very careful in whistleblowing and must be able to guard and also ensure that he or she does not suffer mega losses because of the whistleblowing. Secondly what is very important is that the organization should have a proper process, a process which is unbiased, a process which is open, a process which enables any whistleblower to blow the whistle and not face adverse consequences and in that process the management or the committee can analyze what has been raised as an issue and based upon that candid and honest truth based, value based analysis and understanding of the issue then they can proceed forward to see that is that whistleblowing or that complaint genuine or non-genuine and then move forward and in case the whistleblower sees that the internal mechanism is not working in his or her favor and in favor of the episode or issue that they are highlighting then they can go external and then make a lot of hue and cry and make the public and the regulators and also different institutions aware of the negativity or of the corruption or dishonesty taking place within the organization. Thank you.