Hayley Ichilcik recently spoke to Anti-Corruption Report about the UK government's proposed reforms to corporate criminal liability in England and Wales. Under the proposals, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill could place criminal liability on corporate entities based on the actions of senior managers.
Hayley suggested, "General counsels, compliance officers and practitioners will monitor the effect of this development with a keen eye."
Discussing the definition of "senior manager", Hayley also shared that the Bill seeks to pre-empt complex organizational structures that conceal decision makers.
"This may raise difficult evidential questions, which will be all the more challenging in the context of large companies with complex reporting matrices and decision-making processes," she warned. "This seems to put a heavier burden on how companies design, implement and roll out their compliance programs. Their risk assessment of their corporate liability will likely require them to take a holistic and more substantive analysis of when an employee could be considered to be a senior manager, based on role, responsibilities and influence within the organization."
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