Has your company been the victim of breach of trust? Filing a criminal complaint is an essential step to protect your financial interests, your reputation, and to hold the perpetrator accountable. This comprehensive guide answers all your questions: why, when, and how to file a complaint as a company.
Why should a company file a complaint quickly?
Filing a criminal complaint allows you to:
- officially report an offence and trigger an investigation so that the perpetrator can be sanctioned;
- protect the company and its executives from being considered accomplices;
- protect the reputation of the company and its executives: it is always easier to claim good faith when a complaint has been filed.
Key steps to prepare a complaint
1. Gather all evidence without delay
This evidence will be valuable for filing the complaint and proving the offence. Evidence can include, for example:
- Emails, text messages, WhatsApp exchanges
- Contracts, invoices
- Bank statements, proof of transfer
- Photographs, video surveillance recordings (be careful about the retention period of recordings, which is sometimes very short)
2. Identify the offence(s) of which your company is a victim
Is your company a victim of breach of trust and possibly other offences? At this stage, there is no need to worry: the offence chosen for filing the complaint carries little importance.
3. Estimate, at least approximately, the damages suffered by the company
(financial, reputational, moral damage)
To estimate the financial damage (e.g. replacement value of an asset, cost of repairing a damaged asset, loss of an opportunity to profit from it), the best approach is to rely on supporting documents such as invoices or accounting records.
The extent of the damage suffered will help you assess how to proceed. For example, the criminal response to a breach of trust of 100 euros committed by a third party is not the same as for a breach of trust of the same amount committed by an employee.
When filing a complaint, significant financial damage will encourage investigators to carry out investigative measures more quickly.
Who can file a complaint on behalf of the company?
Three people have standing to represent the company and file a complaint in its name and on its behalf:
- the company's legal representative:
- for companies (SARL, SAS, SA, etc.): the manager, the chairman, the chief executive officer, or any other director designated in the articles of association as the legal representative.
- for sole proprietorships: the entrepreneur themselves.
- a delegated person: the legal representative may grant a written mandate (power of attorney or delegation of authority) to an employee (legal director, CFO, security officer, etc.) or to an external representative of the company.
- the company's lawyer
Where and how to file a complaint on behalf of a company?
Two options are available to you:
Go in person to the police station or gendarmerie. Remember to bring:
- proof of identity
- a delegation of authority from the legal representative, along with a copy of their identity document, if you are not the legal representative.
- a company registration extract (Kbis) less than 3 months old.
Filing a complaint at a police station is the most common option and is to be preferred in urgent situations.
Note: police and gendarmerie services are required to register your complaint regardless of where the offence was committed.
To save time on the rest of the procedure, you can send a copy of the complaint along with the filing receipt to the Public Prosecutor of the relevant judicial court by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt. You can identify the competent court and obtain its address via this link: https://www.justice.fr/recherche/annuaires
Write directly to the Public Prosecutor of the competent court. This second option is preferable when the facts are complex. I strongly recommend being assisted by a lawyer when drafting a complaint to the Public Prosecutor.
Essential content of a criminal complaint for a company
Whether filing at a police station/gendarmerie or with the Public Prosecutor, here is what I recommend preparing:
- explain the discovery and the sequence of events
- specify the date, time, and place of the offence
- provide all evidence in your possession
- provide the identity and contact details of the alleged perpetrator, if known, or state your suspicions
- provide the identity and contact details of any witnesses, if known
- indicate the damages suffered (if you are unsure about the amount, feel free to specify that it is an estimate)
Additional actions after filing a complaint
In parallel, it may be useful, or even necessary, to take other steps, such as:
- filing a claim with your insurance
- changing or blocking access to sensitive systems (emails, software, bank accounts)
- managing internal and external communication
- suspending an employee as a precautionary measure if there is strong reason to believe they are the perpetrator of the offence
Timeline and follow-up of the complaint
Processing time
Generally, expect at least 12 months between filing the complaint and the Public Prosecutor's decision.
In 2024, the average processing time for a simple complaint in France was around 9 months (source: https://www.justice.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/2023-04/PARTIE-7_Annuaire_ministere-justice_2019_16x24_0.pdf).
However, prosecutors' offices give priority to cases involving offences against persons (for example: violence, assault, rape), so the processing time for a complaint filed by a company is very often much longer than 9 months.
Following up on a criminal complaint
You can call or write to the SAUJ pénal (the criminal division's single point of contact for court users) of the judicial court where the complaint was filed.
To help your contact identify the case, you should provide the name of the victim, the date the complaint was filed, the offences referred to in the complaint, and ideally attach a copy of the complaint.
Good to know: an identification number called a "numéro de Parquet" (prosecutor's office reference number) is assigned to each case. Do not hesitate to ask your contact for this reference number and keep it carefully to make your next request easier.
My complaint is stalled, what can I do?
You have several options:
File a complaint with civil party application ("plainte avec constitution de partie civile") with the presiding investigating judge of the judicial court of the place where the offence occurred or where the alleged perpetrator resides, if 3 months have passed since your simple complaint was sent to the Public Prosecutor.
I strongly recommend being assisted by a lawyer to draft this complaint, as it must be sufficiently detailed and must specify the offences of which your company was a victim.
The complaint with civil party application is then forwarded to the Public Prosecutor, who proposes to the investigating judge either not to investigate or, on the contrary, to investigate (i.e. to open a judicial investigation). The final decision to investigate rests solely with the judge.
If the judge decides to investigate, they will carry out all measures deemed necessary to establish the truth. Both the accused and the victim may also submit observations and request that the judge carry out certain investigative measures, among other things.
If the perpetrator is known and you have sufficient and objective evidence, you have the option of summoning the perpetrator directly before the court, known as a "citation directe" (direct summons). Here too, I strongly recommend being assisted by a lawyer if you are considering this procedure.
Possible outcomes of a complaint
At the end of the investigation, the Public Prosecutor decides on the follow-up to give to the complaint, which may be, alternatively:
- Dismissal ("classement sans suite"), meaning the end of the procedure without a trial. A dismissal can be decided for various reasons (e.g. inability to identify the perpetrator, the facts do not constitute an offence, etc.). In this case, the victim has the option, on the one hand, to challenge the decision by writing to the Attorney General, and on the other hand, to file a complaint with civil party application so that an investigation can be carried out.
- Alternative measures to prosecution or a criminal settlement ("composition pénale")
- Referral to a court so that the perpetrators can be tried
- Opening of a judicial investigation, meaning the case is referred to an investigating judge who will continue to investigate the matter.
Hiring a lawyer: a strategic advantage
Filing a complaint, whether at a police station or with the Public Prosecutor, can be done without the assistance of a lawyer.
However, from the moment you discover the facts, it is in your interest to contact me so that I can provide you with legal advice, guide you on which evidence to gather depending on the offence your company is a victim of, and, where appropriate, take charge of drafting and filing the complaint.
I will also serve as the point of contact with the investigating services. I will proactively follow up on the case to ensure the investigation progresses as well as possible.
A well prepared case from the outset will increase the chances that the perpetrator is identified and ordered to compensate your company.
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