DOJ startet ein Pilotprogramm zu Selbstanzeigen

Blick ins Ausland

Das US-Justizministerium (U.S. Department of Justice, DOJ) hat am 5. April 2016 das Memorandum “The Fraud Section’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Enforcement Plan and Guidance„ erlassen. Darin kündigte das Ministerium ein Pilotprogramm für ein Jahr an, wonach die Unternehmen ihre Verstöße gegen das Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) selbst anzeigen können. Diese Selbstanzeigepflicht ist mit Kooperation bei den Untersuchungen verbunden. Im Gegenzug wird das DOJ den Unternehmen mit einer Strafreduktion entgegenkommen.

Dabei müssen die Unternehmen, die im Falle eines FCPA-Vorfalls beim DOJ eine Selbstanzeige stellen, folgende Bedingungen erfüllen, um überhaupt „credit for voluntary self-disclosure“ zu bekommen:

  • The voluntary disclosure qualifies under U.S.S.G. § 8C2.5(g)(1) as occurring “prior to an imminent threat of disclosure or government investigation”;
  • The company discloses the conduct to the Department “within a reasonably prompt time after becoming aware of the offense,” with the burden being on the company to demonstrate timeliness; and
  • The company discloses all relevant facts known to it, including all relevant facts about the individuals involved in any FCPA violation.

Das DOJ hat in diesem neunseitigen Papier Anhaltspunkte dazu gegeben, wie es sich die Kooperation auf Seiten der Unternehmen vorstellt.

Weiter weist das DOJ der „Remediation“ in diesem Prozess eine besondere Bedeutung zu. Nur wenn Schritte in diese Richtung getan werden, können die Unternehmen mit einem Strafnachlass rechnen. Im Einzelnen zählt das Ministerium folgende Punkte auf:

  • Implementation of an effective compliance and ethics program, the criteria for which will be periodically updated and which may vary based on the size and resources of the organization, but will include:
    • Whether the company has established a culture of compliance, including an awareness among employees that any criminal conduct, including the conduct underlying the investigation, will not be tolerated;
    • Whether the company dedicates sufficient resources to the compliance function;
    • The quality and experience of the compliance personnel such that they can understand and identify the transactions identified as posing a potential risk; The independence of the compliance function;
    • Whether the company’s compliance program has performed an effective risk assessment and tailored the compliance program based on that assessment;
    • How a company’s compliance personnel are compensated and promoted compared to other employees;
    • The auditing of the compliance program to assure its effectiveness; and
    • The reporting structure of compliance personnel within the company.
    • Appropriate discipline of employees, including those identified by the corporation as responsible for the misconduct, and a system that provides for the possibility of disciplining others with oversight of the responsible individuals, and considers how compensation is affected by both disciplinary infractions and failure to supervise adequately; and
  • Any additional steps that demonstrate recognition of the seriousness of the corporation’s misconduct, acceptance of responsibility for it, and the implementation of measures to reduce the risk of repetition of such misconduct, including measures to identify future risks.

Wenn ein Unternehmen zwar nicht eine Selbstanzeige beim DOJ gestellt hat, dafür aber im anschließenden Verfahren alle geforderten Voraussetzungen erfüllt, dann bekommt es dennoch kleinere Nachlässe beim Strafmaß: „Specifically, in circumstances where no voluntary self-disclosure has been made, the Fraud Section‘s FCPA Unit will accord at most a 25% reduction off the bottom of the Sentencing Guidelines fine range.“

In solchen Fällen, wo sich ein Unternehmen selbst anzeigt gibt es folgende Nachlässe: “the Fraud Section’s FCPA Unit may accord up to a 50% reduction off the bottom end of the Sentencing Guidelines fine range, if a fine is sought; and generally should not require appointment of a monitor if a company has, at the time of resolution, implemented an effective compliance program. Where those same conditions are met, the Fraud Section’s FCPA Unit will consider a declination of prosecution.”

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