#Ethics & compliance:
European duty of care: new constraints for French companies
On Wednesday April 24, the European Parliament adopted the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). The directive imposes a duty of care on European companies with more than 1,000 employees and a turnover of at least €450 million, as well as on non-European companies operating within the European Union. Member States will have to designate a national authority responsible for enforcing the duty of care, empowered to impose fines of up to 5% of the offending company’s turnover. More restrictive than the French duty of care introduced in 2017, French employers accuse it of creating competitive, commercial and litigation risks. > Read article
#White collar crime:
Fictitious employment: François Fillon definitively convicted, a new trial will be held to determine penalties
On Wednesday 24 April, the French Supreme Court upheld the conviction of François Fillon, his wife and his former surrogate for embezzlement of public funds in a case involving fictitious employment at the French National Assembly. François Fillion was hoping to plead, before a new court of appeal, the nullity of the entire procedure due to the lack of the judiciary’s independence. The French Supreme Court, however, quashed the appeal decision so that the nature of the penalty can be re-examined. A new trial will therefore be held to determine the nature of the penalty to be imposed on François Fillon and the amount of damages to be awarded to the French National Assembly. > Read article
#Anti-Bribery and Corruption:
Suspected corruption in Gabon: Pascaline Bongo acquitted in Paris
On Monday 22 April, the Paris Criminal Court issued its decision in the Pascaline Bongo case. The eldest daughter of the deceased President Omar Bongo was acquitted from charges of passive bribery of a foreign public official. Pascaline Bongo was suspected of having agreed to intervene in favour of the French engineering company Egis Route regarding the award of public contracts in exchange of €8 million in kickbacks. The court decided that her position at the time did not give her the power to attribute these contracts. Egis and three of its former executives were also acquitted. > Read article
#Criminal tax law:
Investigation into Bernard Laporte on suspicion of laundering tax fraud proceeds closed with no further action
A preliminary investigation into former President of the French rugby federation Bernard Laporte for aggravated laundering of tax fraud proceeds, launched on 21 September 2020, was closed with no further action. The investigation was initiated following an alert by Tracfin, the French Ministry of the Economy’s anti-money laundering unit. According to the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office, the suspicions related to a donation of €3 million which allowed a former French rugby player to acquire a stake in a company operating a casino in Haute-Savoie, alongside Bernard Laporte and a third party. It was suspected at the time that this donation had not been properly declared to the tax authorities. > Read the article
