Assistance at police interview

Article 47bis, paragraph 2, of the Code of Criminal Procedure also gives the right to the assistance of a lawyer during the interview itself. That right applies as soon as the acts concern an offence punishable by a custodial sentence. In fraud files that threshold is usually met.

If the written invitation lists these rights, the law assumes that you have already consulted a lawyer. If it does not list them, an adult suspect can have the interview postponed once. He can then still exercise his right to consultation and assistance.

If you are not questioned as a suspect, you get the shorter list of article 47bis, paragraph 1. That list carries no right to the assistance of a lawyer. If it emerges during the interview that acts may be charged against you, the officer must then give you the rights of paragraph 2. For a member of staff called as a witness in a file against your company, that shift is real.

Our assistance for people suspected of fraud describes the whole criminal investigation. No conviction may be based on a statement taken in breach of these rights.

If the investigation continues after the interview, it can lead to a summons before the council chamber or the correctional tribunal. Our assistance before the criminal court and our criminal defence then take over.

Our firm prepares you with a fixed method, built on years of experience with interviews in fraud files. That method covers the acts you will be questioned about and whether you invoke your right to remain silent. During the interview itself we stay present and step in where needed.

Outside a case caught in the act, a deprivation of liberty may not exceed forty-eight hours. Only the public prosecutor takes that decision, or the investigating judge once the case is before him. You then get confidential consultation with a lawyer within two hours of contact with the duty service, lasting thirty minutes. If that consultation does not happen in that window, the interview cannot start without the effective assistance of the lawyer.

An interview is a crucial stage in a fraud investigation, and a statement given without consultation will continue to follow you. After the interview, we look with you at the next steps, such as access to the criminal file or a request for investigative measures.

Yes, in most fraud files the Code of Criminal Procedure gives you the right to a lawyer during the interview. That right, set out in article 47bis, paragraph 2, applies once the acts concern an offence punishable by a custodial sentence, a threshold usually met in fraud files. If you are not questioned as a suspect, that right does not apply, though you still get the shorter list of rights under paragraph 1.

If the written invitation does not list your rights, you can have the interview postponed once to exercise them. If it does list them, the law assumes that you have already consulted a lawyer. After the postponement, a new interview date is set immediately.

Yes, a person questioned as a witness gets the shorter list of rights under article 47bis, paragraph 1, with no right to the assistance of a lawyer. If it emerges during the interview that acts may be charged against him, the officer must then give him the rights of paragraph 2. For a member of staff called as a witness in a file against your company, that shift is real.

Outside a case caught in the act, a deprivation of liberty may not exceed forty-eight hours. Only the public prosecutor takes that decision, or the investigating judge once the case is before him. You then get confidential consultation with a lawyer within two hours of contact with the duty service, lasting thirty minutes.