CMI speaks to Prensa Libre about anti-bribery certification and commitment to transparency

The standard recognizes the corporation’s efforts to establish an anti-bribery management system that is robust, transparent and aligned with the highest international standards.

Original article by C-Studio – Prensa Libre.

CMI, Corporación Multi Inversiones, has been certified in the ISO 37001 Standard for Guatemala, which is granted by the entity AENOR (Spanish Association for Standardization and Certification), for its Anti-Bribery Management System. This achievement reinforces the organization’s commitment to ethics, integrity and transparency in all its processes, consolidating its corporate culture based on the values of Responsibility, Excellence, Integrity and Respect (REIR).

ISO 37001 certification is an international standard designed to help organizations establish, implement, maintain and improve a system to prevent bribery. Its main objective is to prevent, detect and deal with possible cases of bribery, both in the public and private spheres. By obtaining this certification, CMI positions itself as one of the leading companies in the region in the active fight against corruption.

For Mónica Leal, CMI’s Director of Risk and Compliance, “this certification is part of our commitment to live in integrity, according to the values promoted by our corporate culture”.

Having the ISO 37001 standard not only reinforces the organization’s ethical behavior, but also makes CMI an agent of change to promote sustainable development in the countries where it operates. “In addition, it reaffirms our commitment to transparency, a principle that we seek to materialize through processes, tools and, above all, consistent actions,” she added.

A PATH OF COMMITMENT AND COLLABORATION

The road to certification began in 2023, when CMI’s Risk and Compliance area decided to adopt a methodology to comprehensively manage bribery risk. The first step was to declare the institutional commitment to the fight against corruption. Then, the process was planned, defining its scope strategically given the territorial and business diversity of the corporation.

The process involved the participation of more than 200 employees from 75 companies of the group. Ten key processes were reviewed, subdivided into 107 sub-processes and evaluated through 15 macro-risks, which made it possible to identify more than 60 relevant controls. This task, which lasted around 18 months, required not only financial and human resources, but also a strong commitment from upper management.

“It all started with the clear backing of the board of directors and shareholders,” Leal emphasized. “That commitment made it easier to get the message across the entire organization. The areas with the greatest exposure to bribery risks, such as logistics, commercial, strategic sourcing and legal, were prioritized,” she commented.

In their report, the auditor AENOR even highlighted the high degree of employee identification with the corporation’s values as one of the most outstanding aspects of the certification process. “The standard requires a culture of integrity as a basis, and we already had that. It was only necessary to order and document it,” concluded Leal.

CMI is led by Juan Luis Bosch Gutiérrez, Chairman of the Board of Directors of CMI; Juan José Gutiérrez Mayorga, Chairman of CMI Foods and Felipe Bosch Gutiérrez, Chairman of CMI Capital, who reaffirm their commitment to continue making investments that promote sustainable development, giving them the opportunity to grow together.