White collar crime: “The worm that rots the fruit of democracy”: Bruno Le Maire prepares new measures to fight against corruption
On International Anti-Corruption Day, on 9 December, the French Minister of Economy announced that he was working on a new legal arsenal to fight corruption. In collaboration with the Minister of Justice and the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, he aims to introduce new measures to prevent corruption in both the private and public sectors. Although the measures will be detailed at the beginning of next year, he has already mentioned a number of possible measures, such as stepping up controls by the AFA (Agence Française Anticorruption), or combating so-called “low intensity” corruption, which has been on the rise in recent years. > Read article
Alleged #corruption ring at the top of the Peruvian government
The country’s Attorney General, Patricia Benavides, has been suspended from her position for six months while undergoing disciplinary action. She is accused of being “at the head of a criminal organization and a ring of influence peddling”, having lobbied various institutions, including Congress, to obtain the dismissal of members of the National Justice Council (JNJ), and having dismissed several magistrates in charge of investigating large-scale corruption and money-laundering cases. This case, which is taking on the appearance of a political crisis due to the alleged involvement of many members of parliament from all sides of the political spectrum, is particularly revealing of the corruption that “gangrenes all levels of the State”. > Read article
#Ethics and Compliance: CSRD: France becomes the first country to implement the ESG Reporting Directive
With Order No. 2023-1142 published in the Official Journal on 7 December 2023, France becomes the first European Union member state to transpose the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This means that companies will no longer be required to declare their extra-financial performance, but instead will be required to publish sustainability information. Among the measures specified by the law, companies will be free to choose their auditor of sustainability information between a statutory auditor or an independent assurance service provider, both under the supervision of the High Audit Authority established by this Order. Companies will have to include this information, which is more detailed than before, in their management report. Major publicly traded companies with over 500 employees and credit, insurance and mutual insurers will be affected from 2024, while medium-sized businesses will only be concerned in 2028. Non-publication of ESG reports is punishable by a fine and ineligibility for public procurement contracts. Failure to audit sustainability information is punishable by a fine of 30,000 euros and two years’ imprisonment, rising to 75,000 euros and 5 years’ imprisonment in the case of hindering the audit process. > Read article
#European Arrest Warrant: No notification of the right to silence required before the investigating chamber hearing a European arrest warrant
In its overview of criminal law news for the week of 4 December 2023, Dalloz Actualité looks back at the ruling handed down by the Criminal Division on 5 December in which the French Supreme Court rejected the applicant’s priority question of constitutionality. The petitioner was seeking the Constitutional Council’s ruling as to whether the absence of an obligation to notify the right to silence by the investigating chamber in the context of the appearance of the person sought on the basis of a European arrest warrant complied with the Constitution’s provisions. As the latter was examining a request for surrender under a European arrest warrant but was not interrogating the petitioner on the merits, the Court considered that the purpose of the hearing was only to establish the person’s identity and consent to surrender and that, therefore, the obligation to notify the right to silence was not applicable. > Read article
