Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA): Can it be a solution for corporate criminal liability in Indonesia?

Abstract

Corporate crime is ambiguous, highly complex, diffusion of responsibility and victimization, and difficult to detect and to prosecute. Although since 1955 corporations have been introduced, until now, corporate crime has rarely empowered criminal law. PERMA (Supreme Court Decree) no. 13 of 2016 on the Procedures for Handling Criminal Cases by Corporation is expected to be the solution. However, learning from the experience of the United States and Great Britain, excessive corporate prosecution had a negative impact, especially for the third parties (employees and shareholders), the economy in general, and the corporation itself. Both the United States and Great Britain then apply the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) according to the characteristics of each country. The advantages of DPA are preventive (such as compliance programs) and retributive (such as financial penalties, compensation for victims) functions for the corporation. This means the drugs offered to the company fit the company’s disease approach. Thus, Indonesia is expected to formulate the Indonesian DPAs to address issues of corporate criminal liability