Facts
On March 6, 1998, the Federal Office of Police transmitted to the Geneva Investigating Judge a request for mutual legal assistance presented by the Attorney General of the Republic of Ukraine for the purposes of criminal proceedings opened for the misappropriation of assets belonging to the State or the community. On March 6, 1998, the Attorney General of the Canton of Geneva opened a criminal investigation to determine whether any offenses of money laundering or lack of due diligence in financial transactions had been committed in Geneva in connection with the facts mentioned in the Ukrainian request for assistance. In the context of these proceedings, the Investigating Judge ordered the seizure from several banks of documents relating to various bank accounts. On March 27, 1998, the Investigating Judge spontaneously transmitted to the Ukrainian Investigating Judge information on the existence of these accounts and the fact that K. was the economic beneficiary, without, however, communicating any evidence. The appeals filed by K., G., B., Z. and A. against this spontaneous transmission of information were dismissed by the Indictment Division and the Federal Tribunal.Considerations
The Federal Tribunal considered that the spontaneous transmission of information carried out by the Investigating Judge on March 27, 1998 was in accordance with Art. 67a IMAC. This provision allows the criminal prosecution authority to spontaneously transmit to a foreign authority information it has gathered in the course of its own investigation, when such transmission is likely to enable the initiation of criminal proceedings or to facilitate the conduct of an ongoing investigation in the foreign State.
The Federal Tribunal noted that the…