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Switzerland: Phase 2

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Switzerland: Phase 2 DIRECTORATE FOR FINANCIAL AND ENTERPRISE AFFAIRS SWITZERLAND: PHASE 2 REPORT ON THE APPLICATION OF THE CONVENTION ON COMBATING BRIBERY OF FOREIGN PUBLIC OFFICIALS IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS AND THE 1997 RECOMMENDATION ON COMBATING BRIBERY IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS This report was approved and adopted by the Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions on 24 December 2004. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 4 a) Switzerland, an economic and financial centre........................................................................... 4 b) Switzerland’s exposure to international bribery ......................................................................... 4 c) Awareness of bribery and the laundering of its proceeds ........................................................... 5 d) Methodology and structure of the report..................................................................................... 6 A. PREVENTING AND DETECTING THE OFFENCE OF BRIBING FOREIGN PUBLIC OFFICIALS........................................................................................................................................... 7 1. Preventing acts of bribery of foreign public officials ....................................................................... 7 a) Awareness on the part of federal and cantonal government officials ......................................... 7 b) Preventive organisational measures in the business sector......................................................... 8 i) Compliance programmes of large Swiss enterprises ............................................................ 8 ii) Preventive measures within the economic fabric of other businesses .................................. 8 iii) Prevention and detection by corporate accounting and auditors........................................... 9 c) Preventive organisational measures in the financial sector....................................................... 11 i) Due diligence requirements and precautionary measures for financial intermediaries ...... 11 ii) Supervisory mechanisms .................................................................................................... 12 2. Detecting acts of bribery of foreign public officials and related offences...................................... 13 a) Detection based on private self-regulation in the financial sector ............................................ 14 b) Detection outside the financial sector ....................................................................................... 16 i) Revelations from executive bodies and other corporate entities......................................... 16 ii) Detection based on reports by private-sector employees and officials of government agencies........................................................................................................... 17 iii) Bribery of foreign public officials detected by the tax authorities...................................... 20 c) Requests for mutual assistance and the foreign press as sources of information for Swiss prosecutors ................................................................................................................ 22 B. PROSECUTING BRIBERY OF FOREIGN PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND RELATED OFFENCES......................................................................................................................................... 23 1. Procedures, investigation methods and mutual legal assistance..................................................... 23 a) The Confederation's new powers in procedures relating to transnational bribery, money laundering and related offences .................................................................................... 23 i) Prosecuting bribery of foreign public officials and related offences .................................. 23 ii) The need for more effective prosecution of transnational economic crime........................ 24 iii) The Confederation's competence in practice ...................................................................... 25 b) The conduct of investigations ................................................................................................... 26 i) Evidence, proof, investigative methods and limitation periods .......................................... 26 ii) Gathering evidence abroad ................................................................................................. 27 iii) Mutual legal assistance: Switzerland's treatment of international rogatory commissions.. 28 2 2. Establishing the offence of bribery of foreign public officials ....................................................... 30 a) Treatment of the offence of offering a bribe............................................................................. 30 i) Offering, promising or giving............................................................................................. 30 ii) The definition of undue advantage and socially accepted practices ................................... 31 iii) Anteriority of the advantage and the relation of equivalence between the advantage and the benefit in return ...................................................................................................... 32 b) Treatment of the notion of foreign public official and their acts .............................................. 32 i) The notion of a foreign public official................................................................................ 32 ii) Payments to public officials "so that he accomplishes the duties of his position" and the domestic law offence of giving an advantage ............................................................... 33 c) The Federal Tribunal Judgement of 5 December 2003............................................................. 34 d) Jurisdiction and the problem of participation ........................................................................... 35 3 The liability of legal persons........................................................................................................... 36 a) The Paragraph 2 offence ........................................................................................................... 37 b) The Paragraph 1 offence ........................................................................................................... 39 C. SANCTIONING BRIBERY OF FOREIGN PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND RELATED OFFENCES......................................................................................................................................... 40 1. Convictions and penalties for bribery............................................................................................. 40 a) Applicable Penalties and sentencing......................................................................................... 40 i) Applicable Penalties............................................................................................................ 40 ii) Elements taken into consideration by the criminal judges when sentencing ...................... 40 b) Sentences pronounced by the Swiss criminal courts ................................................................ 42 i) Primary and ancillary penalties imposed by the criminal courts ........................................ 42 ii) The ancillary measure of confiscation ................................................................................ 42 c) Exclusion from public procurement contracts and export subsidies......................................... 44 i) Exclusion from public procurement contracts .................................................................... 44 ii) Withholding or withdrawing export guarantees.................................................................. 45 2. Penalties for money laundering linked to bribery of foreign public officials................................. 46 3. Liability for accounting and tax offences ....................................................................................... 46 a) Prosecution of accounting offences .......................................................................................... 46 b) Prosecution of the non-deductibility of undue payments to foreign public officials................ 47 RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................................................................ 49 Annex 1: Abbreviations............................................................................................................................ 52 Annex 2: Relevant legislation................................................................................................................... 53 Annex 3: Convictions since 1984 for breaches of the Swiss Criminal Code relating to bribery of Swiss and foreign public officials, money laundering and related offences............................. 56 Annex 4: Institutions encountered during the on-site visit from 10 to 14 May 2004............................... 57 Annex 5: Composition of the examining team......................................................................................... 60 3 INTRODUCTION a) Switzerland, an economic and financial centre 1. Switzerland currently hosts some of the leading companies operating in global markets in industries as diverse as chemicals, machinery and financial services. Many firms
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