ALRUD advised a global provider of engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry in the investigation into the top management of the Russian department of the company

ALRUD Law Firm, participating as the part of the international team of lawyers and investigation experts, provided support to the Client, a global provider of engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry, in a major anticorruption investigation into its top managers of its Russian operation. This was in connection with the requirements of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which has extraterritorial effect (FCPA).

Different Client's legal entities of several jurisdictions, including from the USA, as well as external consultants, were involved in the investigation, which required special attention to be paid to the processing and cross-border transfer of personal data of employees of the Russian operation.

Russia requires the processing of personal data of Russian citizens, when they are collected in Russia, as well as the requirement to obtain written consent, when personal data is transmitted to the United States. In this respect the conduct of an investigation, with the participation of third parties which were located in the USA, was subject to the agreement of suspected employees of the Russian operation to transfer their personal data, to third parties, in the United States. Since the materials, collected during the investigation, potentially could have led to the disciplinary, as well as criminal, responsibility for certain employees, employees began to actively obstruct the investigation, by refusing consent, or withdrawing consent, to the processing of their personal data. Following the investigation, the Client decided to dismiss some employees. But despite the investigation materials, proving the violation of companies’ policies, as well as the law, the process of dismissing the employees involved conflict and difficulty. In particular, the employees established the primary trade union organization, with which a number of arrangements had to be made in the process of dismissal.

The ALRUD team, which worked on the project under the leadership of Maria Ostashenko, Partner and head of Data Protection and Cybersecurity, included Anastasia Petrova, Of Counsel of the Labour and Employment Practice and Data Protection and Cybersecurity Practices, and Margarita Egiazarova, Senior Associate of the Labour and Employment Practice.

ALRUD experts helped the Client to complete the investigation and successfully dismiss the employees as a result of the investigation. This was achieved by in-depth expertise and extensive experience in the areas of personal data processing, criminal law, compliance and investigation and labour law.