First Prison Sentence Handed Down Under Canada’s Foreign Corruption Legislation (R. v. Karigar)

Nazim Karigar was sentenced to three years imprisonment today by the Ontario Superior Court for his part in a conspiracy to bribe an Indian government Minister and other officials of a state-owned airline. Karigar was working as an agent of Cryptometrics Canada, an Ottawa area company, in relation to a bid to supply security software to Air India. Karigar’s conviction in August 2013 under Canada’s Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act was the fourth under that Act since it was adopted to implement the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in 1999. Three prior convictions involved corporate accused. Karigar is the first individual to be convicted under the Act. The imposition of a three-year prison sentence marks an important development in Canada’s enforcement of the CFPOA and sends a signal to directors, executives and employees of their potential personal exposure for unlawful conduct in international business transactions.