I attended the PECB Certified ISO 37001 ABMS Lead Auditor training conducted in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia between 4th March, 2018 and 8th March, 2018. The tutor was Dr KM Loi (ISO/PC 278 Vice Chair; ISO 37001 Expert).

It was an eye opener for me. I am a lawyer by profession and I attended the training with the view towards getting a deeper understanding of ISO 37001 so that I can better appreciate how it will interact with Malaysian laws dealing with anti-corruption/anti-bribery. Malaysia has amended its Malaysian Anti-Corruption Act, 2019 to introduce a new strict liability offence for any commercial organisation (companies and business partnerships) failing to prevent bribery and places a burden on them to prove that they have put in place adequate procedures to prevent bribery. This new provision is modelled on Section 7 of the UK Bribery Act 2010. It is scheduled to come into force in June, 2020.

I am pleased to note that I have gained a clear and in depth understanding of the practical aspects of ISO 37001 ABMS implementation and auditing requirements. Dr KM Loi’s expertise and experience not only brought to live at the training what one could expect in an actual audit of an anti-bribery management system, but also gave me invaluable insight on how to resolve any issues which could arise.

I highly recommend this training to anyone who wants to have an actionable practical knowledge of ISO 37001 AMBS. This cannot be gained by only acquiring a copy of the ISO 37001: 2016 for reading and self-study.