Laws and regulations governing companies could soon be tightened up

Parliament is to consider a bill in which companies would be forced to pay for crimes committed by their managers. Such a move would bring the law into harmony with EU standards. "The aim is to eliminate situations whereby a criminal is punished while the enterprise benefits from the crime he had committed," said Wojciech Sadrakula, an official in the Justice Ministry. According to Grzegorz Wlazlo, an legal analyst with the Confederation of Private Employers (PKPP), the bill is in conflict with Constitutional guarantees of criminal proceedings and European law. In order to punish a company, it has to be proven that it has benefited from the crime. If found guilty a company could be fined up to 10% of revenues from the last fiscal year, or 10% of revenues of the year in which the crime was committed. "This would mean bankruptcy for many companies," commented Grzegorz Wlazlo. In related news, the Warsaw Stock Exchange yesterday announced a code of conduct to improve corporate governance among listed companies, on matters such as shareholder rights, information policy and the roles of independent directors. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 7; Reuters) M.M.