What happens to whistleblowers
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 5 April 2021
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How exposing the truth at work can cost you your career. Theo Leggett speaks to whistleblowers Ian Foxley and Bianca Goodson, both of whom found it impossible to get a new job after exposing wrongdoing at their respective employers. Psychotherapist David Morgan describes the emotional toll on those who choose to expose wrongdoing, and why the majority stay silent. And whistleblower lawyer Mary Inman, partner at the law firm Constantine Cannon, argues that companies need to start seeing whistleblowing as a help rather than a threat.
(Picture credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Business Daily. I'm Theo Leggett. In this program, we'll be delving into the world of whistleblowers. |
| 0:08.5 | If you discovered wrongdoing in your company, would you speak up about it? |
| 0:12.4 | I've struggled. Financially have reached ruin. It's been horrible. It's been absolutely horrible, |
| 0:18.1 | and it's certainly not something that I would wish on anybody. |
| 0:20.5 | We'll be looking at why so many organisations seem to lash out at whistleblowers. It's been absolutely horrible and it's certainly not something that I would wish on anybody. |
| 0:27.7 | We'll be looking at why so many organisations seem to lash out at whistleblowers rather than acting on the information they provide. The instinct instead of embracing that person and saying thank you for being the canary in the coal mine telling us about the risk, they have the opposite reaction. |
| 0:38.5 | They want to basically expel them. That's coming up on Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:45.9 | My name is Ian Foxley. I'm a retired army officer. I spent 24 years in the British Army. I got a job in |
| 0:53.0 | 2010 to become the program director to modernise all the |
| 0:57.5 | communications for the Saudi Arabian National Guard. When Ian Foxley went to Saudi Arabia, |
| 1:02.8 | he was looking forward to an exciting new high-level job. But he soon began to suspect that all |
| 1:08.3 | was not well at his new employer. Alarm bells started to ring. |
| 1:12.4 | Well, initially, lack of a budget, odd things within the contracts, and especially one specific |
| 1:18.8 | line that seemed to be funny payments that went to offshore accounts for products or services |
| 1:26.0 | that I was not aware of. I started digging around to find out who |
| 1:30.8 | the subcontractors were and everyone got very tight-lipped and very cagey. And eventually I went to see |
| 1:37.4 | the in-country representative and I assumed that he would come back to me and say, yes, this is serious, we're going to deal with it. |
| 1:46.2 | And nothing happened. |
| 1:48.2 | They threatened me with arrest and jail for giving information to the Ministry of Defence. |
| 1:53.0 | So your actions weren't entirely welcomed here. |
| 1:55.6 | And in fact, you ended up fleeing the country. |
| 1:58.0 | Well, it was a matter of a swift visit to the desert or get out of the country |
... |
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