Conference programme

As law students we are taught how to fight our cases in court, but as practicing criminal lawyers we quickly learn that our clients’ best interests are not necessarily achieved through litigation. While pleading guilty and pleading not guilty would appear to be binary options, very often the best outcome is achieved by carefully exploring the area in between. For both the prosecution and defense litigation carries risk, cost and uncertainty; in most jurisdictions there are therefore formal and/or informal processes for engaging with enforcement authorities. This panel will take a critical look at this topic from the perspective of different jurisdictions and ask the important question: does cooperation produce good and just outcomes?

Following two years of the conflict in the Ukraine, this panel will look at the various international criminal law issues that have arisen so far and will be coming down the track. The panel will consider the impact in various jurisdictions looking at matters of extradition, Interpol red notices, asset freezes, civil recovery/confiscation, sanctions de-listing applications and other future white-collar matters, such as post conflict corruption issues in winning project contracts through public procurement.

The panellists will discuss the dos and don'ts when negotiating Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) with enforcement authorities, in particular: differences and common points between DPAs in the  France, the US and theUK; how to deal when enforcement authorities of different countries investigate the same facts; and what are the current alternatives to DPAs in Italy and Switzerland? Is there a need to introduce DPAs in those two countries?

This panel will dissect the intricate landscape of subsidies fraud in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The health emergency created by Covid-19 led state authorities and international institutions to allocate significant financial resources to companies, through subsidies and other forms of aid, to overcome not only the sanitary urgencies, but also the subsequent economic crisis. These subsidies were often granted through fast-track procedures with relaxed controls and unusual procurement processes. Did companies manage these public funds diligently? Has there been an increase in investigations of fraud and corruption because of the audits carried out by regulatory authorities after the global crisis? This panel will navigate the complexities of this topic, discussing actual cases from different jurisdictions, emerging trends, lessons learned and strategies to combat fraudulent practices.

In recent years in Europe, the discussion about whistleblowers has been dominated by the issues related to the implementation of the EU directive on the protection of persons reporting breaches of EU law. These discussions mainly revolved around available tools to protect whistleblowers and incentives aimed at strengthening so-called ‘speak-up’ policies. However, the issue of whistleblowers has a much broader scope; information disclosed by a whistleblower can lead to many consequences for a company, including the fear of criminal proceedings. The protections implemented by the EU may lack equivalents in other jurisdictions andoften local regulations differ on issues such as whether a whistleblower can receive an award for reporting misconduct. We will discuss the challenges and best practices for representing clients in light of these varied legal regimes.

At their most serious, tax crimes are prosecuted as fraud. Even the mere non-filing of a return can be treated by the Revenue Agency as evidence of the intent to evade taxes. In recent years, Italy has experienced many famous investigations relevant to tax crimes against corporations and other jurisdictions have their challenges as well. The criminal offenses charged by the Prosecution Service have been extremely various: permanent establishment issues, unfaithful tax declarations, VAT tax evasions, false invoicing, tax frauds and many others, including cross-border problems (eg, legal privilege in the execution of a European investigation order). The defense strategy in case of tax crimes is peculiar, given both the high specialisation required by this particular kind of crimes and the number of players involved (Tax Police, Revenue Agency and Public Prosecutor). The panel will address a number of issues arising from these investigations, with the perspective of the defense counsel, of the Prosecutor’s Office, of the General Counsel and of the technical expert.

We will discuss the particular challenges of the defense of imprisoned defendants. Which particular difficulties and possibilities does the defense have? What are the conditions for the accused to defend themselves being in pre-trial detention? We want to compare how pre-trial detention is applied in different countries and what the conditions in pre-trial detention are like. Is use made of alternative ways to avoid pre-trial detention? Have such alternatives proved successful? Do certain minimum standards exist?

Current activities in politics and legislation will also be addressed, such as the EU Recommendation on the procedural rights of suspects and accused persons subject to pre-trial detention and on material detention conditions.