Author(s):
Lawrence E. Ritchie, Riyaz Dattu
June 27, 2018
Governments around the world are stepping up their efforts to combat white-collar crimes such as money laundering, corruption and fraud, and regulatory authorities and government agencies are implementing more effective measures to support those efforts. Both the U.S. and the U.K. use deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) to fight corporate crime, and as Osler lawyers Riyaz Dattu, Larry Ritchie and Sonja Pavic explain in a recent article in Financier Worldwide Magazine, Canada is on its way to following in their footsteps.
DPAs are voluntary agreements that are negotiated between an accused and the government, and are used to avoid proceedings that could result in a trial and conviction. They require the cooperation of law enforcement agencies and usually include an admission of guilt, fines and governance reform.
The Canadian government held public consultations on the subject of DPAs at the end of 2017 and released the outcome of those consultations in February 2018, including an announcement of its intention to introduce a DPA regime in Canada.
To learn more about the results of the public consultations as well as Canada’s proposed DPA framework, read the full article.