Too Big to Jail: How Prosecutors Compromise with Corporations by Brandon L. Garrett

Author:Brandon L. Garrett [Garrett, Brandon L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Siemens’s Monitor

Dr. Theo Waigel, the former German finance minister appointed to monitor Siemens, told me in an interview that his first question when approached about the position was whether the job would require a great deal of time. There had not been monitors appointed in Germany before; corporate criminal liability does not exist in Germany, so this was not a role that anyone in the country was accustomed to. Dr. Waigel had the impression that the position would involve some travel but that he might continue his law practice and other work. He was mistaken.42

The Siemens monitor had to supervise compliance efforts on a grander scale than perhaps any of his counterparts before or since. The agreement called for the appointment of a corporate monitor for four years and a separate American lawyer to help monitor FCPA compliance.43 Dr. Waigel recalled that the work required about two-thirds of his time over those four years. It was not enough to simply review documents, although there were tens of thousands to review. He had to visit twenty countries around the world, some of them multiple times, and travel to nearly every continent. There would be multiple visits each year to the United States to speak with prosecutors, and meetings with more than 1,500 people in total.

Despite the enormous size of the job, Dr. Waigel fondly recalled the work as an “exciting experience” and a “highlight of my life.” Upon accepting the position, the first thing that he wanted to make clear was the importance of his independence. He had had no business contact with Siemens before accepting the position, and he told both Siemens and the federal prosecutors that he would be “absolutely independent.” If he felt that he could not satisfactorily do the work, then he “would quit at once.”

Upon beginning his work, a new team had to be assembled. There was a project team with employees from Siemens, all experienced in its operations; the lawyers at the U.S. firm serving as the independent consultant; and those Dr. Waigel brought from his law firm. The monitor had to spend several weeks familiarizing himself with the scope and structure of Siemens’s global operations. It was necessary to have complete access to all of the documents concerning compliance, financial controls, and internal audits to understand how the system worked and how it could be improved. Tellingly, as monitor, Dr. Waigel did not do all of his work off-site. He recalled he had “the best office” at Siemens, one “not in the background” but just past the main entrance to the headquarters. This made it clear at the outset that the monitor literally had “an important place” at the company.

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