Economic Crime

The PPSC prosecutes economic crime offences under federal legislation other than the Criminal Code. In addition, it has concurrent jurisdiction with the provinces to prosecute fraud offences pursuant to section 380 of the Criminal Code.

Federal Legislation

Income Tax Act and Excise Tax Act

The PPSC prosecutes offences under the statutes enforced by the Canada Revenue Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, notably those dealing with tax evasion and contraband tobacco. Specialized PPSC prosecutors provide advice during the investigative stage, conduct prosecutions, and provide training to investigators. CRA investigations have recently focused on complex tax evasion schemes, including cross-border crime and organized groups.

Competition Act

The PPSC provides legal advice to the Competition Bureau with respect to the statutes administered and enforced by it—such as the Competition Act, the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, the Textile Labelling Act and the Precious Metals Marking Act—and conducts prosecutions under those statutes. The National Capital Regional Office of the PPSC handles most of this work through its Competition Law Section (CLS). CLS counsel provide advice and work closely with investigators, usually from the outset of investigations, which are often legally and factually complex.

Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act

The Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act was enacted in 1999 to implement the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, which was signed by Canada in 1997.

The Act creates a criminal offence in Canada for anyone who pays, offers, or agrees to pay or offer a benefit of any kind to a foreign public official in order to obtain or retain an advantage in the course of business. The Act was amended in 2013 to, among other things, increase the maximum penalty to 14 years’ imprisonment and expand Canadian jurisdiction over the offence based solely on the nationality of the accused.

Fraud against the federal government

The Federal Accountability Act enacted amendments to the Financial Administration Act, which came into effect on March 1, 2007, creating new indictable offences. These offences deal specifically with acts of fraud against the federal government committed by those having access to funds or other valuable public assets by virtue of their employment within a federal organization or as a result of a contractual relationship with the government for the provision of goods or services. Both the PPSC and provincial prosecution services have jurisdiction to prosecute these offences.

Integrated Market Enforcement Teams (IMETs)

The IMET initiative was established in 2002, following the collapse of large corporate organizations in the United States and consequent criminal investigations and prosecutions, to strengthen the capacity to investigate serious corporate fraud offences in Canada. IMETs are multidisciplinary teams comprised of RCMP investigators and prosecutors from the PPSC.

Following amendments to the Criminal Code in 2003, both the federal and provincial Attorneys General have authority to prosecute capital market offences. Agreements between the provinces and the PPSC provide a right of first refusal in IMET cases to the provincial prosecution services of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. The PPSC will prosecute these cases when a provincial Attorney General declines to prosecute or when a province invites the PPSC to join the prosecution team. Currently, the PPSC does not have carriage of an active prosecution file.