Conference programme

Enforcement authorities increasingly have acknowledged the valuable input derived from cooperation in cases that resulted in record fines. By way of example, the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office specifically detailed the role of the Joint Investigation Team set up with the Serious Fraud Office in its settlement with Airbus. Similarly, in the Petrobras case, the Department of Justice publicly praised the assistance of its Brazilian law enforcement counterparts. It is thus predictable that many future international corruption cases likewise will be resolved using cross-border cooperation. During this panel, representatives of prosecution authorities will explain how they cooperate with each other in practice. Our panellists will focus on how information and potential evidence are exchanged at the investigation stage. The panellists will also share their experience in dealing with local legal constraints, including so-called blocking statutes, that may obstruct cooperation. Speakers will also share their experience in reaching coordinated cross-border settlements and in calculating fines that will ultimately be divided among the authorities.

Private sector corruption is a widespread problem and a highly relevant topic for businesses and authorities alike. In a business context, corruption can affect the entire supply chain, distort markets and weaken competition. This session will explore the differences between public sector and private sector corruption, the various forms it can take and its consequences on society as a whole. Taking the perspective of the businesses, the compliance function and the authorities we will also discuss the challenges of prosecution private corruption and appropriate responses, including what measures can be implemented to prevent it and how effective anti-corruption ethics and compliance programmes should look like. The panel will also focus on recent developments, including the effects of the pandemic and the impact of recent ESG-related regulation.

The panel will review new risk scenarios created by the pandemic (such as bribery and corruption in the use of governmental recovery funds, fraud and cyber-attacks and human rights violations) and best practices in conducting internal investigations. The discussion will address the use of traditional investigative tools (like search warrants, subpoenas, in-person interviews and paper documents review) as opposed to new digital tools (remote data collection, remote electronic document review, telephonic/video/remote interviews and electronic evidence) in handing corporate internal investigations. 

Mr Bohnert will present the latest developments in the fight against corruption in France and discuss the recent CJIPs entered into to resolve international corruption cases, such as Airbus and Bolloré SE.

Keynote speaker:
Jean-François Bohnhert Procureur de la République financier, Parquet National Financier, Paris 

Interviewers
Sophie Scemla Gide Loyrette Nouel, Paris; Co-Chair, IBA Anti-Corruption Committee
Ann Sultan Miller & Chevalier, Washington, DC; Conference Coordinator, IBA Anti-Corruption Committee

Has bribery and corruption legislation around the world encouraged corporate responsibility to the extent that corporates are the new world police? This panel will look at a topical issue: where nation states have been slow to interfere in the Russia-Ukraine crisis, corporates have not. Have we created a global culture whereby the legislative requirement to act, prevent and publicly sanction has translated into global policing?

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) has transitioned from the realm of norms and principles-based voluntary models to spaces increasingly governed by law and regulation. Recent examples span the globe, including the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, the UK’s Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, the US’ proposed climate disclosure rule and Brazil’s proposed ESG-related disclosure regulations. Lessons learned from anti-corruption enforcement and compliance efforts likewise inform how companies and society as a whole may think about ESG on its current trajectory. Further, one aspect of the governance pillar involves how companies govern their environmental and social responsibilities, opportunities and performance, giving rise to new and complex compliance challenges for companies implementing ESG programmes. This panel will explore insights from anti-corruption developments relevant to the proliferation of ESG regulations, including companies’ practices regarding supply chains, M&A due diligence and parent–subsidiary relationships. In particular, panellists will address how well-accepted elements of an effective anti-corruption compliance program – such as risk assessment, relevant policies and procedures, training, effective communications, monitoring and testing and remediation – can provide valuable models for structuring a successful ESG programme.

Praised as the largest anti-corruption probe ever launched, Operation Car Wash led to repercussions in several Latin American countries such as the arrests of tycoons and senior politicians, including former presidents, and some of the largest cross-border anti-corruption settlements ever paid. Even so, like Mani pulite in Italy, Operation Car Wash ended in a rather dismal state: several judicial decisions in Brazil were rendered null and void, and some prosecutors are being prosecuted by those convicted of corruption. How was Operation Car Wash dismantled so easily during the pandemic? Is there a legacy or are there lessons to be learned for anti-corruption enforcement?

Corrupt and collusive practices are common grounds for exclusion in public and multilateral development bank (MDB) procurement. The fight against corruption is caught by the ‘G’ of ESG and thus is the focus of exclusions and debarments. But what about other ESG-related issues? How are those identified, investigated and then sanctioned? Are ESG-violations sufficient grounds that can lead to exclusion or debarment?

Panellists will discuss how MDBs and public authorities have started to include ESG considerations in their investigation practices. Just as the US Magnitsky Act considers corruption as a human rights violation, MDB and public procurement could be close to extending their investigations by scrutinising more than the traditional sanctionable practices to sanction also other ESG violations committed under their projects.

The rise of cryptocurrencies has presented unique risks and challenges for anti-corruption compliance. This panel will discuss:

• The basics of crypto assets, what they are and how they are being used
• What risks and challenges they present from a compliance perspective
• How regulators and enforcement agencies are approaching the issue
• What risk management tools and approaches are being used to address those risks. 

While the recent past has borne witness to the development and enforcement of global anti-corruption legislations, the BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – have also contemporaneously acknowledged and identified corruption to be a significant impediment in their path to be global financial superpowers. This panel will strive to explore the parallels that can be drawn between the anti-corruption frameworks in each of the BRICS countries, the developments that they have made which are critical to international business, the alignment of their own perspectives to their international counterparts and the efforts that each nation continues to make in light of obvious local challenges. 

In December 2021, the OECD Secretary-General publicly thanked the IBA for its contribution to the 2021 OECD Anti-Bribery Recommendation. The IBA Non-trial Resolutions of Bribery Cases Subcommittee will present a panel that will discuss what the IBA recommended, what the Working Group on Bribery will do going forward and how the investigation, prosecution and settlement of foreign bribery cases will be different in the future.