INTRODUCTION Contributed by: Deepak Vij, ABV Solicitors
received 313 tips and found that 120 of them war - ranted additional investigation, “including a number of tips relating to priority areas – procurement fraud, trade fraud, and sanctions evasion”. While DOJ’s FCPA guidance may explain part of the diminished FCPA enforcement activity, another DOJ policy appears to have had a material impact on the disposition of FCPA cases, particularly for corpora - tions under investigation. In June 2025, DOJ’s Crimi - nal Division issued a revised Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP) designed to streamline the charging cal - culus in cases involving companies. By and large, the CEP offered potential benefits to companies that: • voluntarily self-disclosed misconduct; • fully co-operated with DOJ’s investigation; and • timely and appropriately remediated. While prior iterations of the CEP created a presump - tion of a declination if a company satisfied these requirements, the revised version requires a declina - tion. DOJ is also likely to tap into a fertile source of informa - tion from the Whistleblower Program to fuel its surge of False Claims Act enforcement. Greece In Greece, in cases involving bribery of public officials, political figures or members of the judiciary, as well as trading in influence and related offences, a person may be granted whistle-blower (public interest wit - ness) status, provided that they are not involved in the offence and do not seek any personal benefit. This status is granted by financial crime prosecutors, with the approval of the Head Prosecutor, where the indi - vidual provides information that significantly contrib - utes to the detection and prosecution of the offence. The law provides protective measures for such whis - tle-blowers, including confidentiality, and in some cas - es, immunity from prosecution, in order to encourage reporting without fear of retaliation. Portugal In Portugal, both general and sector-specific frame - works establish the existence of mandatory internal
and external whistle-blowing channels, which must ensure confidentiality and anonymity. These regimes also provide for a strict prohibition of retaliation against whistle-blowers, accompanied by significant administrative sanctions in the event of breach. Fur - thermore, in many legal frameworks (eg, under Law No 93/2021, the Securities Code and anti-money laundering legislation), whistle-blowers benefit from immunity or exemption from liability where reports are made in good faith. In certain contexts, particularly under the Securities Code, there is also a presump - tion that any detrimental measures adopted following a report constitute retaliation. As regards incentives, these are essentially of a nega - tive or protective nature, consisting primarily in the prohibition of retaliation, immunity from liability, and procedural support mechanisms. Although, in areas such as auditing, European Union law allows mem - ber states to establish incentive schemes for internal whistle-blowers, there does not appear to be, under Portuguese law, a generalised regime providing for financial rewards or bonuses. Anonymous reporting is expressly permitted. Mecha - nisms for anonymous reporting exist both internally within organisations – under Law No 93/2021, anti- money laundering frameworks, and regulatory notices issued by Bank of Portugal – and externally, through competent authorities such as the Portuguese Securi - ties Market Commission, Bank of Portugal, and other sectoral regulators, in accordance with the applicable legal regimes. Switzerland Switzerland currently lacks comprehensive legisla - tion protecting whistle-blowers in the private sector. Multiple legislative proposals have been rejected by Parliament, most recently in 2024 when the National Council again voted against a new whistle-blower proposal. As a result, the measures whistle-blowers may take to report misconduct and the circumstances under which they may report externally have been estab - lished primarily through case law.
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