Ottawa, December 9, 2022 – To mark International Anti-Corruption Day today, the Canadian Bar Association introduced a comprehensive new guide that outlines best practices to conduct an internal investigation into allegations of bribery, corruption, and other white-collar crimes. The Guide for Internal Investigations of White-Collar Crime is designed to help corporations and their legal advisors conduct internal investigations.
Allegations of white-collar crime can arise from several sources, making it essential for corporations to be able to investigate evidence or allegations of corporate wrongdoing at an early stage. With this guide, corporations can learn to determine the validity of any allegations and recommend a course of action to fix the problem.
The guide is an initiative of the CBA Anti-Corruption Team, which advocates on behalf of the legal profession to end corrupt legal practices and provides resources for Canadian lawyers to learn about anti-corruption law.
Quick facts
- The guide is available for free on the Canadian Bar Association website.
- The guide is an initiative of the CBA Anti-Corruption Team, a multi-Section committee comprised of members from the Business, Criminal Justice, Construction and Infrastructure, Charities and Not-for-Profit, Competition and International Law Sections, the Ethics and Professional Responsibility Subcommittee and the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association.
- While the guide is not a definitive legal treatise, it offers guidance and recommendations on circumstances that may require an internal investigation; cooperating with enforcement agencies; maintaining and waiving solicitor-client privilege; independence of the investigation counsel; document preservation, collection and review; witness interviews; and multi-jurisdiction investigations.
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“As corporations face increased regulatory, stakeholders and public scrutiny, it is important that they be able to investigate evidence or allegations of white-collar crimes. We hope that this guide will help corporations and their legal advisors determine when they should conduct an internal investigation, and if so, how they should do it.”
- Norman Keith, member of the CBA’s Anti-Corruption Team
Links
Guide for Internal Investigations of White-Collar Crime
CBA’s Anti-Corruption Team
About the Canadian Bar Association
The CBA is dedicated to support the rule of law and improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,000 lawyers, notaries in Quebec, law teachers and law students from across Canada are members.
For more information, contact:
Vanessa Racine
Manager, Media Relations and Public Affairs
613-237-2925 x153
vanessar@cba.org