Corporate Investigations, Corporate Justice and Public-Private Relations: Towards a New Conceptualisation

ISBN-13: 9783030265182 / Angielski / Miękka / 2020 / 353 str.

Clarissa A. Meerts

Opis

This book seeks to understand the investigation and settlement of employer/employee disputes within companies. It argues that there is effectively no democratic knowledge about, or control over, corporate security, due to companies' preference for private, out-of-court settlements when faced with norm violations raised by employees. This book fills the knowledge gap by providing an overview of the corporate security sector including legal frameworks and an analysis of the role and powers of private investigative services, inhouse security, forensic accountants and forensic legal investigators. It draws on close observation, case studies and interviews with practitioners in and around the industry. Corporate Investigations, Corporate Justice and Public-Private Relations also looks at public-private relationships in this sector to propose policy remedies applicable to all corporate security providers, regardless of the disparate professional backgrounds and skill-sets of their staff. 

Spis treści

Preface and acknowledgements

1. Introduction

Introduction

1. Defining core concepts

2. Some theoretical notions on private security, corporate investigations and private-public relations

2.1 The over-burdened state – privatisation, responsibilisation and junior partner theory

2.2 The growth of mass private property – multilateralisation, nodal theory, anchored pluralism and loss prevention theory

2.3 An assessment of traditional private security theories

2.4 Juridification – the exploitation of the dark number of economic crime

2.5 Recapitulation and beyond: a public-private continuum

3. Methodology

3.1 Interviews

3.2 Observations

3.3 Case studies

3.4 Some methodological reflections

3.4.1 Internal and external validity

3.4.2 Internal and external reliability

3.4.3 Trust – access and confidentiality

3.4.4 Getting captivated – the role of the researcher

Book structure

2. Legal frameworks

Introduction

1. General rules and legal frameworks for investigations

1.1 Privacy legislation

1.2 The Civil Code (BW) and anti-money laundering legislation (Wwft)

2. Private investigation firms – those with a Wpbr-permit

3. In-house security departments

4. Forensic accountants

5. Investigators with a legal background – forensic legal investigators

6. The selling propositions of the different types of investigators

6.1 Background and specialist knowledge

6.1.1 In-house investigators

6.1.2 Private investigation firms

6.1.3 Forensic accountants

6.1.4 Forensic legal investigators

6.2 Rules and ethics and position regarding the client

6.2.1 In-house investigators

6.2.2 Private investigation firms

6.2.3 Forensic accountants

6.1.4 Forensic legal investigators

6.3 The matter of forum shopping

Discussion

3. Corporate investigations

Introduction

1. The setting of corporate investigations – client centeredness

2. Preparation for the investigations

3. Gathering information – investigative methods leading up to confrontation

3.1 Internal documentation

3.2 Internal systems

3.2.1 Communications and data carriers

3.2.2 Other internal systems

3.3 Open sources

3.4 Other sources

4. The interview: confronting the involved person

4.1 The interview process

4.2 Phases in the interview process

5. Reporting on the investigations

5.1 The adversarial principle

5.2 Complaints procedures

Discussion

4. Corporate settlements

Introduction

1. To report or to not report, that’s the question

1.1 Considerations against reporting to the authorities

1.2 Considerations in favour of reporting to the authorities

1.2.1 Strategic considerations

1.2.2 Normative considerations

1.2.3 Timing of law enforcement involvement

2. The civil suit

2.1 The civil suit to terminate a labour agreement

2.2 The pro forma procedure

2.3 The Enterprise Court

2.4 Some differences between criminal justice and civil court proceedings – the use of

evidence

3. The settlement agreement: a court-free arrangement

4. Internal sanctions as a solution

4.1 Internal sanctions: disciplining the employee

4.2 Termination of the labour contract

Discussion

5. Public-private relations as coexistence

Introduction

1. Formal structures of coexistence: covenants and public/private partnerships

2. Ad hoc relations and traditional theories

2.1 Junior partner theory revisited

2.2 Loss prevention theory revisited

3. A new coexistence theorisation of corporate investigations

3.1 Type A – Private to public information transfer

3.1.1 Private and public involvement as a sequence

3.1.2 Private and public involvement running parallel

3.2 Type B – Minor mutual information sharing

3.3 Type C – Coordination of actions

4. A closer look at information sharing

4.1 Ad hoc information sharing with the private sector: the importance of the prosecutor

4.2 Informal networks

Discussion: public-private relationships and information sharing as a source of frustration

6. Discussion

Introduction

1. The research questions

The modus vivendi of the corporate security market

Legality: the legal frameworks

Autonomy and strategic tasking

Public-private relations and the interests involved

Theoretical and practical consequences of public/private coexistence

Central research question

2. Corporate investigations as a semi-autonomous social field within a private legal order

3. Forum shopping within and across a private legal sphere

4. Control and accountability in the context of a semi-autonomous corporate investigation sector

5. The myth of public-private turf wars – the matter of competition versus separation

6. Normativity and pragmatism in corporate investigations and settlements – a case 

of non-contractual moral agency?

7. Legitimacy and the common good

8. Policy implications

8.1 Governing corporate security – looking forward

8.2 Revisiting the cooperation mantra

9. Reflections – this research and beyond

References

Appendices

Appendix I - Table of interviews

Appendix II - Schematic of differences between corporate investigators

Appendix III - Legislation and case law

List of Figures and Tables

Figure 1. Schematic representation of ideal types in public/private relationships

Figure 2. Corporate settlement solutions following corporate investigations

Figure 3. Schematic representation of ideal types in public/private relationships (2)

O autorze

Clarissa Meerts is Assistant Professor of Criminology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands. Her research interests primarily include corporate investigations, corporate settlements, public-private relationships, white-collar and financial crime and organised crime.