On 3-4 November 2021, over 60 representatives of the law enforcement, the prosecutors’ offices, members of the judiciary, as well as policymakers from the six beneficiaries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey) participated in an online Regional Workshop on the Liability of Legal Entities for Investigation and Prosecution of Corruption and Money Laundering Offences.
In her opening remarks Ms VIEZZER, Deputy Head of Unit in DG NEAR, underlined the commitment of the European Union to the Western Balkans. She also emphasised the role of the rule of law and the fight against economic crime as cornerstones to the success of those commitments.
This workshop followed the Conference on Advancing Beneficial Ownership Transparency of June 2021, which focused on a closely related topic of significance for increasing transparency and preventing misuse of corporate structures as highlighted in his opening words by Mr Mustafa FERATI, Head of the Economic Crime and Cooperation Division.
Workshop presentations and discussions addressed topics such as whistleblowing protection, international cooperation, and asset recovery which came up as instrumental to corporate liability, and those are areas of increased attention in the Division activities.
The practice in various jurisdictions, including France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States were featured to present the alternative approaches to corporate liability, the different legal frameworks and enforcement contexts that make it possible, as well as the different challenges that all jurisdictions face. The workshop distinctly presented anti-corruption enforcement against corporations as significantly increasing in recent times across jurisdictions, which pointed to a pressing need for enhanced regional cooperation.
The EU legal and institutional framework applicable to the investigation and prosecution of legal entities was thoroughly presented, with special attention to the EU Directive on protection of whistleblowers; the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters; the Anti-Money Laundering Directives, as well as the role of European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Pointing to the way forward, the workshop provided the opportunity to discuss the proposed EU Directive on Corporate Due Diligence and Corporate Accountability, as well as the legislative proposals recently presented by the EU Commission to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
The discussions on investigating and prosecuting companies for bribery and money laundering, were illustrated by real case studies, which were also used to expound negotiated settlements. The discussion on these non-trial resolutions proved particularly important for the participants and resulted in an exchange between the experts on the many nuances and challenges in reaching and executing them.
The workshop established corporate liability as a viable legal mechanism to transfer the legal responsibility from individuals affiliated to a company to that same company and highlighted the importance to focus on financial crimes. Furthermore, the sessions pointed out the difficulties of investigating and prosecuting legal entities, or even of attributing any wrongdoing by individuals to them.
In preparation for the workshop, a background document on Liability of Legal Persons for Corruption Offences was made available to participants in Albanian, Serbian/Bosnian/Montenegrin, Macedonian and Turkish.
This activity was organised in the framework of the project “Action Against Economic Crime in South East Europe and Turkey” which is jointly funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey” phase II and implemented by the Council of Europe.