SWITZERLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Bruno Ledrappier and Camille Vuillemin-Loup, Charles Russell Speechlys Switzerland
6. Resolutions, Sanctions and Remedies
are negligible (Article 52 SCC), reparation has been made (Article 53 SCC) or the offender has already been sufficiently affected by their own conduct (Arti - cle 54 SCC). 6.2 Sanctions and Sentencing Under Swiss criminal law, individuals face three main types of penalties: custodial sentences (imprison - ment), monetary penalties (day-fines) and fines. Imprisonment ranges from three days up to 20 years, or life for the most serious offences such as murder. Monetary penalties are set in daily units (3 to 180 days), each valued between CHF30 and CHF3,000 based on the offender’s financial situation. For financial crimes, custodian sentences of up to five years apply to most financial crimes’ offences under the SCC, including fraud (Article 146 SCC), criminal mismanagement (Article 158 SCC) and money laundering (Article 305bis SCC). Aggravated forms of certain offences, such as money laundering committed as a member of a criminal organisation, carry higher maximum penal - ties. Monetary penalties expressed in day-fine units are commonly imposed for less serious offences or as an alternative to short custodial sentences. Fines may be imposed in addition to or instead of other penalties. Courts may also order asset confiscation, compensa - tion claims, and activity prohibitions (eg, bans from working in the financial sector). Legal entities may be fined up to CHF5 million under Article 102 SCC, whether liability is primary (for speci - fied offences like money laundering and bribery) or subsidiary (where the offence cannot be attributed to a specific individual due to organisational deficien - cies). Authorities may also confiscate proceeds of crime from legal entities regardless of whether the entity was directly involved in wrongdoing. Swiss law does not provide for formal monitorships or deferred prosecution agreements. Regarding sentencing and mitigation, courts assess the offender’s culpability by examining the serious - ness of harm, reprehensibility of conduct, motives, prior conduct, personal circumstances and the sen - tence’s impact on the individual’s life (Article 47 SCC). Genuine remorse and reparation of damage are recog - nised mitigating factors under Article 48 SCC. In the financial crime context, the amount of the financial
6.1 Prosecution and Resolution Mechanisms Swiss financial crime cases are predominantly resolved through summary penalty orders, which are written penal orders issued by the prosecutor rather than through a full trial. Under this procedure (Articles 352 et seq. CrimPC), the prosecutor may issue a sum - mary penalty order if the accused admits responsibil - ity or it has been sufficiently established, and the sen - tence does not exceed six months’ imprisonment, 180 daily penalty units or a fine. The accused may accept the order or challenge it, by filing an objection within ten days, which triggers ordinary trial proceedings. In practice, the OAG has used this mechanism in virtually all corporate cases, including major bribery matters such as Gunvor (2019 and 2024) and Glencore (2024). The contents of these orders are typically negotiated between the prosecutor and the accused, covering both charges and sanctions. Abbreviated proceedings (Article 358 et seq. CrimPC) offer another path, whereby the accused admits the essential facts and accepts a proposed sentence, subject to court confirmation. Proceedings may also be dismissed under the reparation provision (Article 53 SCC) if the offender compensates for the harm caused. Full trials remain rare but are used selective - ly, as in the 2025 Trafigura case – the first reasoned corporate bribery judgment by the Federal Criminal Court. Critically, Switzerland does not have deferred pros - ecution agreements (DPAs) or non-prosecution agree - ments (NPAs) under its domestic law. Although the OAG proposed introducing a DPA-like mechanism during the 2022 revision of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Federal Council rejected the proposal. Prosecutorial discretion is narrow: Swiss law follows a mandatory prosecution principle, meaning prosecu - tors must bring charges where grounds for suspicion are sufficient. There is no statutory framework allowing prosecutors to enter into negotiated settlement agree - ments with companies or individuals in exchange for compliance undertakings or monitorship arrange - ments. Exceptions allowing waiver of prosecution are limited to cases where culpability and consequences
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