Facts
On 15 January 2014, [B. AG] filed a criminal complaint against [A.] for unfair competition. The complainant accuses him of having contacted a business partner of the complainant in the name of [C.] Ltd. (Russia), a competitor of the complainant, and having requested the issuance of a letter of recommendation for a product, giving the impression that it was a product of [C.] Ltd. In reality, however, it was a product of the complainant.
By order of 4 June 2014, the Public Prosecutor's Office of Baden suspended the criminal proceedings until the final settlement of the civil proceedings pending before the District Court of Baden. [A.] appealed against this suspension, which the High Court of the Canton of Aargau dismissed on 17 December 2014.
[A.] now appeals in criminal matters to the Federal Supreme Court, requesting that the decision of the High Court be set aside and the matter be remanded to the Public Prosecutor's Office with the instruction to resume the criminal proceedings.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court considers the suspension of the criminal proceedings by the Public Prosecutor's Office to be permissible. Pursuant to Art. 314 para. 1 lit. b CrimPC, the Public Prosecutor's Office may suspend an investigation if the outcome of the criminal proceedings depends on another procedure and it appears appropriate to await its outcome. In the present case, there is a close factual connection between the criminal proceedings against the complainant and the civil proceedings pending before the District Court of Baden, as the question of whether there was a competitive relationship between the complainant and [C.] Ltd. is of fundamental importance in both proceedings. The taking of evidence in the civil proceedings can therefore significantly facilitate the criminal…