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v. reports on enforcement in oecd convention countries - Begroting

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In other jurisdicti<strong>on</strong>s, Daimler AG reached a settlement <strong>in</strong> April 2010 <strong>in</strong> the US of US $185 milli<strong>on</strong> with the SEC<br />

and US DOJ. 176 In Nigeria, two major German companies and their Nigerian subsidiaries reached multimilli<strong>on</strong> euro<br />

settlements with the Nigerian government <strong>in</strong> 2010, namely Siemens and its Nigerian subsidiary and Bilfi nger<br />

Berger GmbH and its Nigerian subsidiary (see Secti<strong>on</strong> VI <strong>on</strong> Nigeria). 177 In late January 2011 the Greek <strong>in</strong>vestment<br />

m<strong>in</strong>ister reportedly wrote to Siemens Hellas, a Siemens AG subsidiary, that Greece would “seek compensati<strong>on</strong> for<br />

the damage it has suffered from the corrupti<strong>on</strong> practices that have been used by [the] company <strong>in</strong> the past.” The<br />

statement was reportedly based <strong>on</strong> allegati<strong>on</strong>s that the company had engaged <strong>in</strong> bribery <strong>in</strong> c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong> with the<br />

award<strong>in</strong>g of c<strong>on</strong>tracts for the 2004 Olympic Games <strong>in</strong> Athens. 178<br />

Domestic bribery by foreign companies: Two former Swiss bankers who formed the company Value Partners<br />

Associates AG were arrested <strong>in</strong> Germany <strong>in</strong> March 2010 and sentenced to impris<strong>on</strong>ment <strong>in</strong> January 2011 <strong>on</strong> charges<br />

that they bribed a public offi cial <strong>in</strong> the city of Leipzig (see report <strong>on</strong> Switzerland). 179 The Munich Public Prosecutor<br />

<strong>in</strong> Germany is reportedly <strong>in</strong>vestigat<strong>in</strong>g allegati<strong>on</strong>s that former managers of the state-owned bank BayernLB were<br />

bribed <strong>in</strong> the course of deal<strong>in</strong>gs with the Austrian bank Hypo Alpe Adria. 180<br />

Inadequacies <strong>in</strong> legal framework: There are some key <strong>in</strong>adequacies <strong>in</strong> the legal framework. There is no crim<strong>in</strong>al<br />

liability for corporati<strong>on</strong>s and, <strong>in</strong> the op<strong>in</strong>i<strong>on</strong> of TI Germany, the sancti<strong>on</strong>s do not serve as an effective enough<br />

deterrent for foreign bribery. Though the OECD C<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong> does not require crim<strong>in</strong>al liability, TI Germany<br />

ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong>s that its <strong>in</strong>troducti<strong>on</strong> together with crim<strong>in</strong>al sancti<strong>on</strong>s for companies would strengthen the prosecuti<strong>on</strong><br />

and adequate sancti<strong>on</strong><strong>in</strong>g of foreign bribery <strong>in</strong> Germany. The OECD Phase 3 evaluati<strong>on</strong> of Germany noted that<br />

sancti<strong>on</strong>s, particularly crim<strong>in</strong>al sancti<strong>on</strong>s aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>in</strong>dividuals, may not be suffi ciently dissuasive. 181 The protecti<strong>on</strong><br />

of whistle-blowers <strong>in</strong> the public sector has been improved, but the government has not adopted similar measures to<br />

protect whistle-blowers <strong>in</strong> private enterprises. Additi<strong>on</strong>ally, German law does not cover small facilitati<strong>on</strong> payments.<br />

Furthermore, there is still no corrupti<strong>on</strong> register at the federal level despite several draft bills <strong>in</strong> different legislative<br />

periods.<br />

Inadequacies <strong>in</strong> <strong>enforcement</strong> system: The ma<strong>in</strong> resp<strong>on</strong>sibility for the prosecuti<strong>on</strong> and <strong>in</strong>vestigati<strong>on</strong> of crimes<br />

committed <strong>in</strong> Germany or abroad, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g foreign bribery cases, lies with<strong>in</strong> the Länder (federal states). As a result,<br />

organisati<strong>on</strong>al procedures and <strong>in</strong>stituti<strong>on</strong>al structures for the <strong>in</strong>vestigati<strong>on</strong> and prosecuti<strong>on</strong> of corrupti<strong>on</strong> cases<br />

may vary from state to state. There has been a tendency <strong>in</strong> the past few years <strong>in</strong> most of the states to c<strong>on</strong>centrate<br />

resp<strong>on</strong>sibility for the prosecuti<strong>on</strong> of foreign bribery <strong>in</strong> special prosecuti<strong>on</strong> units, which is a positive development.<br />

There are also efforts am<strong>on</strong>g the state prosecuti<strong>on</strong> authorities to exchange data, experience and best practice<br />

models. The 2010 foreign bribery <strong>enforcement</strong> results are evidence of c<strong>on</strong>siderable progress <strong>in</strong> this area.<br />

Legal framework and <strong>enforcement</strong> system regard<strong>in</strong>g subsidiaries, agents and other <strong>in</strong>termediaries: German<br />

law does not expressly cover bribery through an <strong>in</strong>termediary as a foreign bribery offence, and relies <strong>on</strong> its Penal<br />

Code provisi<strong>on</strong>s <strong>on</strong> <strong>in</strong>stigati<strong>on</strong> and complicity. This implicit coverage has been dem<strong>on</strong>strated <strong>in</strong> practice <strong>in</strong> domestic<br />

case law <strong>in</strong> Germany. 182<br />

Recent developments: There have been no signifi cant improvements <strong>in</strong> the last year. A draft bill that would<br />

have improved the legal framework <strong>on</strong> bribery lapsed at the end of the last legislative period. In 2007 the federal<br />

government submitted this fairly comprehensive draft bill to Parliament (Bundestags-Drucksache 16/6558) <strong>in</strong> order<br />

to reform Germany’s anti-bribery crim<strong>in</strong>al law. This measure was <strong>in</strong>tended, <strong>in</strong>ter alia, to enable Germany to ratify the<br />

UN C<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong> aga<strong>in</strong>st Corrupti<strong>on</strong> and the Council of Europe Crim<strong>in</strong>al Law C<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> Corrupti<strong>on</strong>. Parliament<br />

did not agree <strong>on</strong> a complementary law to expand the offence of bribery of members of domestic assemblies, and<br />

176 US SEC Press Release, 1 April 2010, http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2010/2010-51.htm<br />

177 EFCC Press Release, 23 November 2010<br />

http://www.efccnigeria.org/<strong>in</strong>dex.php?opti<strong>on</strong>=com_c<strong>on</strong>tent&task=blogcategory&id=14&Itemid=33 ; All Africa, 27 September 2010,<br />

“Bribe Scandal- Julius Berger to Pay FG U.S.$29.5 Milli<strong>on</strong> F<strong>in</strong>e” http://allafrica.com/stories/201009271069.html<br />

178 BBC “Greece to seek damages from Siemens over bribery claims“, 24 January 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/bus<strong>in</strong>ess- 12272153<br />

179 Sächsische Zeitung, 19 March 2010, “Neue Festnahmen im Wasserwerke-Sumpf”,<br />

http://www.sz-<strong>on</strong>l<strong>in</strong>e.de/nachrichten/artikel.asp?id=2416440 ; and Handelsblatt, 26 January 2011, “UBS <strong>in</strong> F<strong>in</strong>anzskandal verstrickt”,<br />

http://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/banken/ubs-<strong>in</strong>-fi nanzskandal-verstrickt/3741278.html ; and Mephisto 97.6 Radio, 19<br />

January 2011, “He<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>ger, Blatz und Senf kommen <strong>in</strong> Haft”,<br />

http://mephisto976.uni-leipzig.de/themen/beitrag/artikel/he<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>ger-blatz-und-senf-kommen-<strong>in</strong>-haft.html<br />

180 Der Standard, 28 February 2011, Justiz prüft mögliche Bestechung v<strong>on</strong> BayernLB-Managern“,<br />

http://derstandard.at/1297819106655/Hypo-Justiz-prueft-moegliche-Bestechung-v<strong>on</strong>-BayernLB-Managern<br />

181 OECD Work<strong>in</strong>g Group <strong>on</strong> Bribery, Phase 3 Review of Germany, March 2011<br />

http://www.<strong>oecd</strong>.org/document/37/0,3746,en_21571361_44315115_47416549_1_1_1_1,00.html<br />

182 OECD Work<strong>in</strong>g Group <strong>on</strong> Bribery, October 2009, “Typologies <strong>on</strong> the Role of Intermediaries <strong>in</strong> Internati<strong>on</strong>al Bus<strong>in</strong>ess Transacti<strong>on</strong>s”<br />

http://www.<strong>oecd</strong>.org/data<strong>oecd</strong>/40/17/43879503.pdf<br />

Progress Report 2011: Enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery C<strong>on</strong>venti<strong>on</strong><br />

37

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