Compensation for Third Parties Harmed by Procedural Acts

Facts

The Office of the Attorney General conducted criminal proceedings against the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of [A.A. AG] , [B.] , for prohibited acts for a foreign state. In the course of the investigation, the Office of the Attorney General repeatedly requested [A.A. AG] to surrender documents and files. On June 7, 2018, [A.A. AG] requested the Office of the Attorney General for compensation of CHF 31,725.-- for the associated expenses. The Federal Criminal Court, by order of November 21, 2018, did not enter into this request, as it considered the deadline under Art. 434 CrimPC not to have been met.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the appeal of [A.A. AG] . It considers that the lower court rightly did not enter into the request for compensation, as it was filed about a month after the judgment was served and thus not within the deadline under Art. 434 CrimPC. The appellant must be held accountable for knowledge of the status of the proceedings at least until the accused's resignation as an authorized signatory and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the appellant. Under these circumstances, the authorities were not obliged to inform the appellant about the status of the proceedings.

The Federal Supreme Court further states that third parties who have been…