OSLO, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Norway's oil fund on Tuesday announced new measures in fighting corruption along with stricter requirements for the invested companies, online newspaper E24 reported.
The fund, formally known as the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) and ranked as the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund, made the announcement in its fourth report on responsible investment.
The fund's management said that last year six companies were expelled from the investment due to estimated risk, which makes a total of 216 expelled companies since 2012.
In addition there were many companies that were banned due to the oil fund's ethical rules, which are determined by the Board of Directors of Norges Bank, the country's central bank.
"Our work on international standards is an important part of responsible investment. In 2017, we have expressed our expectations of multinational companies on appropriate, prudent and transparent tax behaviour," said Yngve Slyngstad, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, which is the part of the Norwegian central bank responsible for managing the fund.
"We expect all companies we are invested in to have effective anti-corruption measures in place," he said.
Some of the expectations and requirements towards companies include establishing clear anti-corruption policies and procedures to prevent, identify and address corruption in the organisation, clear communication to employees and business partners that shows explicit and active commitment from senior management against corruption, as well as reporting on the work with anti-corruption measures and cooperation with regulatory authorities.
The fund sent a letter to the 500 largest companies where they own shares to ask them to pay taxes where the money is earned. The fund management has received answers from 50 of them.
The fund also engaged in a series of consultations and processes to create better rules for companies' reporting.
