The corruption criminal law is a part of the economic criminal law, which is of great importance in practice. In recent decades, the focus of national and international investigative authorities has been on corruption-related criminal matters. The fight against corruption is currently an important political objective, for which the legal situation has undergone several changes. Existing criminal regulations about skimming off excess profits have been tightened up and new ones have been introduced, making corruption criminal law a significant risk area for both companies and individuals. In many counties of Germany special Departments for economic crime were established at the Public Prosecutor’s Offices to investigate violations in this field.
Frequently occurring offences in corruption criminal law are:
agreements restricting the competition according to Section 298 StGB,
bribery and corruption in the course of business in accordance with Section 299 StGB,
bribery and corruption in the healthcare sector according to Sections 299a and 299b StGB and
official offences according to Section 331 StGB et seq., in particular
acceptance of advantages according to Section 331 StGB,
bribery according to Section 332 StGB and
granting of advantages according to Section 333 StGB,
bribery according to Section 334 StGB and
pressure to testify according to Section 343 StGB.
The catching-all-offenses of the
fraud according to Section 263 StGB and the
breach of trust according to Section 266 StGB
play an important complementary role in economic and private life.
Corruption in international economy is punishable primarily by laws to combat international bribery such as the EU Bribery Act and the International Bribery Act.
As a result of many uncertainties regarding the current legal situation and the associated uncertainty in the application of the law, there are significant criminal risks and, at the same time, there is a great need for preventive advice. Even in day-to-day business transactions in the business world, especially when dealing with domestic and foreign authorities and public officials, increased caution is required due to the strict regulations of Sections 331 et seq. StGB.
Our law firm in Frankfurt am Main assists companies and individuals, throughout Germany and internationally in the clarification of legal issues effectively as well as in the context of criminal defense. Defense attorney Juergen Klengel represents and defends management and supervisory board members and employees of companies in investigations and in court and takes over negotiations with the public prosecutor’s office, the tax investigation department and other authorities.
Defense attorney Klengel also represents companies in Frankfurt and beyond as an accessory party in national and international investigations and criminal proceedings concerning allegations of corruption and tax evasion as well as against threatening corporate fines, profit skimming and confiscation measures.
As an experienced corporate and corruption defense counsel, Mr. Klengel also has a highly regarded expertise in the defense of companies and their employees in international corruption proceedings. In proceedings of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), in which the German public prosecutors and financial authorities were involved, he defended several internationally active companies as a corporate criminal defender very successfully.
In doing so, he can also take over the internal investigations of facts and ensure the criminal law protection of the interests of companies or accused organs and employees, depending on the circumstances, also involving very renowned external defense attorneys from the field of corruption and economic criminal law.