Over 90% of grassroots procuratorates in Anhui handle corporate compliance cases
Prevent the case from breaking down the business
□ Our reporter Fan Tianjiao
In the first quarter of this year, more than 30 million yuan of sales orders have been completed, and the annual sales are expected to be around 150 million yuan.
This charging facility company, located in the High-tech Zone of Hefei City, Anhui Province, is booming, and it is hard to see that it has almost experienced a "life and death crisis".
It turned out that the company was suspected of producing and selling counterfeit and shoddy products because of a problem in the management process, resulting in some batches of products being unqualified.
Once a stain is left, the company is bound to be hit hard.
In this regard, the People's Procuratorate of the High-tech Zone did not simply file a lawsuit, but initiated a compliance inspection of the enterprise according to law. ".
With the deepening of the compliance reform of the companies involved, there are more and more beneficiary companies like this in Anhui.
The province's procuratorial organs adhere to the principle of "exhausting what they can use" and "implementing policies based on the case" in the initiation of compliance work in criminal cases involving enterprises. At present, more than 90% of the grassroots courts have eliminated the "blank spots" in handling cases, effectively preventing "one case and one collapse". Enterprises, laid off a group of workers".
No restrictions, no restricted areas
Proactively reviewing corporate-related criminal cases without omission
Since March 2020, the Supreme People's Procuratorate has launched two rounds of pilot compliance reforms for companies involved in the case across the country, which were fully rolled out in April this year.
Although Anhui is not a reform pilot area, in accordance with the spirit of the Supreme People's Procuratorate that "non-pilot provinces can carry out corporate compliance-related work within the legal framework according to local conditions", they began boldly trying to carry out corporate compliance reform work since September last year.
Enterprise compliance reform refers to the fact that the procuratorial organs, when handling criminal cases involving enterprises, make decisions not to approve arrest, not to prosecute, or make recommendations for lenient sentencing according to the leniency system for admitting guilt and accepting punishment, etc. Actual case handling, urge the companies involved to make compliance commitments and actively rectify and implement them, promote compliance and law-abiding business operations, and reduce and prevent corporate crimes.
At the beginning of the exploration, the Anhui Provincial People's Procuratorate placed special emphasis on the normative issues of compliance reform, established a work leading group headed by the leader of the hospital, formulated relevant work plans, clarified the case-handling process, and insisted that "all corporate compliance cases should be reported to the provincial court at every level." Review and check” to ensure that reforms are advanced within the track of the rule of law.
All city-level procuratorates have listed compliance work as a top-level project, and refined the plan based on the actual situation to promote the deepening of the compliance reform work of the enterprises involved.
Feng Wei, deputy director of the Fourth Procuratorial Department of the Anhui Provincial Procuratorate, told the "Rules of Law Daily" reporter that from the past judicial practice, the most direct punishment for criminal enterprises is to impose fines, but with "criminal convictions", enterprises will face financing and bidding. Limitations and other negative impacts, resulting in the implication of corporate employees and cooperative merchants, and it is difficult to achieve the unification of social and legal effects of case handling.
"Therefore, the provincial procuratorate requires the procuratorate at all levels to actively review whether the companies involved in the case meet the corporate compliance conditions, adhere to the principle of 'exhaustive use' and achieve 'full coverage and no omissions', and the types of enterprises are not limited, and the types of cases include corporate economics. There are no 'restricted areas' for various economic crimes and job-related crimes involved in the activity." Feng Wei said, this will not only provide a profound warning and education to the companies involved in the case to prevent possible future illegal crimes, but also provide compliance with relevant industry companies. Provide models and reference to promote the healthy development of market entities.
As of the end of June this year, the Anhui provincial procuratorate had handled 106 corporate compliance cases, and all 108 grassroots procuratorates had handled 91.67% of corporate compliance cases.
The number of cases handled and the coverage rate rank among the top among the non-pilot regions in the country.
Strict control and strict control
Effectively prevent catwalk-style "paper compliance"
A small and micro private company engaged in equipment manufacturing in Huainan, the person in charge, due to his lack of legal awareness and one-sided pursuit of economic interests, falsely issued special VAT invoices for several companies, but he was able to truthfully confess the crime after arriving at the case, voluntarily plead guilty and accept punishment, and actively Pay taxes and late fees.
The case complies with the compliance conditions for starting an enterprise, and the person in charge of the enterprise also expressed a strong willingness to build compliance.
But how to ensure that enterprises are "true compliance", rather than "paper compliance" in a catwalk style?
In September last year, the People's Procuratorate of Xiejiaji District of Huainan City focused on the use of a third-party supervision and evaluation mechanism when handling the first case of corporate compliance inspection in Anhui.
Wang Qingyong, director of the first procuratorial department of the Xiejiaji District Procuratorate, told reporters that the hospital, together with eight units including the District Federation of Industry and Commerce, the Justice Bureau, and the Finance Bureau, established the first third-party supervision and evaluation mechanism management committee in Anhui Province, and determined a three-month inspection. During the period, a third-party supervision and evaluation working group was introduced to supervise, evaluate and accept the compliance construction of the company involved in the whole process.
"Participating in the supervision and evaluation includes lawyers, auditors, accountants, tax accountants and other related fields experts, scholars and professionals. They are independent of the procuratorial organs and have no connection with the companies involved. They can carry out supervision and evaluation in a credible, fair and objective manner." Wang Qingyong said.
When the inspection period expires, the company has established a relatively complete internal control system and management mechanism, and the third-party supervision and evaluation working group issued a qualified and effective inspection and evaluation report for compliance construction.
Based on the evaluation results, the Xiejiaji District Procuratorate held a public hearing, believing that the company involved had fulfilled its rectification commitments, and finally decided not to prosecute it in accordance with the law.
The successful handling of this case has accumulated useful experience for Anhui to carry out corporate compliance.
The Anhui Provincial Procuratorate has continuously improved its working mechanism, taking the construction of a third-party mechanism as a key link in promoting corporate compliance.
In March this year, together with 10 units including the Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce, jointly issued the "Implementation Opinions on Establishing a Third-Party Supervision and Evaluation Mechanism for the Compliance of Enterprises Involved in the Case (Trial)", formulated the working rules of the third-party supervision and evaluation mechanism management committee, and the management measures for the selection and appointment of professionals. , and promote the construction of the third-party mechanism professional database.
In May this year, the Anhui Provincial-level Enterprise Compliance Third-Party Mechanism Management Committee was formally established, and the provincial-level third-party mechanism was officially launched.
"The procuratorial organ not only handles the case well, but also strengthens the review and control of key links in the operation of the third-party mechanism with the management committee. Specifically, it is to ensure the 'start-up' of the third-party mechanism, the 'selection and appointment' of the organization personnel, and the compliance inspection report. 'Censorship', and resolutely avoid using corporate compliance to defraud leniency." Feng Wei said.
As of the end of June, the province's procuratorial organs have applied third-party mechanisms to handle 86 corporate compliance cases, accounting for more than 80% of the total corporate compliance cases.
Implementing policies and defenses based on cases
Broaden the compliance path and give enterprises "love"
"Handling corporate compliance cases is by no means 'extra-legal grace', but allows the involved companies to learn lessons and establish a compliance system to prevent recidivism while paying the price for illegal and criminal acts." Feng Wei said, in addition to using A third-party mechanism for compliance, and local procuratorial organs have also explored ways of issuing compliance procuratorial recommendations and simplifying the handling of compliance cases, so as to effectively reduce the burden on enterprises.
In the process of promoting compliance reform, Anhui procuratorial organs firmly established the "three-in-one" judicial concept of combating, protecting and serving, implemented the criminal justice policy of "fewer arrests, prudent prosecution and prudent detention", and promoted corporate compliance and the application of the leniency system for admitting guilt and punishment in accordance with the law. Combined with procuratorial suggestions, combined with clearing up "suspended cases" in accordance with the law, and combined with the application of the non-prosecution system in accordance with the law, a number of compliance cases with distinctive features have been handled.
The People's Procuratorate of Wuhu Economic and Technological Development Zone established a third-party supervision and evaluation team to guide the involved engineering companies and related personnel to implement the compliance plan, obtain five qualifications in the field of engineering construction according to law, and complete the transformation from "contractor" to "builder", and Through the connection of executions, industry supervision in the field of bidding will be promoted.
The People's Procuratorate of Changfeng County, Hefei used the cross-regional procuratorial coordination mechanism to jointly conduct compliance inspections with the People's Procuratorate of Jianye District, Nanjing on the companies involved in the case registered in Jiangsu, and based on the scale of the companies involved, the circumstances of the crime and other actual conditions, the applicable companies were differentiated The compliance supervision model has established compliance management systems for different companies to help companies get on the right track.
"In the next step, the Anhui Provincial Procuratorate will also set up a professional talent pool for third-party mechanisms at the provincial and municipal levels with the Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce to provide guarantee for the third-party supervision and evaluation mechanism, and issue guidelines for the procuratorate's work process for handling corporate compliance cases to further improve The standardization level of handling corporate compliance cases." Feng Wei said.