On 9 June, the SEC made an announcement on its website.

• The Regulator itself issued the amount of the award to a whistleblower for having providing it with information. Why is that? One would usually take a lower profile when awarding this much money ($17m) to an informer… Conversely, the Regulator immediately and publicly announced it in a press release, which pretty looked like a tender offer for further denunciations. It even included a link for everyone to access the whistleblower program—which is easily funded, since the awards are charged on the fines imposed on the convicted operators thanks to the information given.

 

• The reason for this is that information from whistleblowers is not merely indicative, nor a second-best option; it is central to Regulation, since it leads the Regulator to get information people within the system (i.e., insiders) deliberately chooses to ‘blow’ (in fact, not only do informers blow the whistle—they often immediately provide the Regulator with substantial information).

 

• The press release includes justifications for the Regulator’s behaviour, as the SEC openly considers that rewarding whistleblowers is the most efficient way for the Regulator to open or to resolve investigations. The Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement stated indeed that “company insiders are uniquely positioned to protect investors and blow the whistle on a company’s wrongdoing by providing key information to the SEC so we can investigate the full extent of the violations”.

 

• This highlights the ambivalence of insiders. Accordingly, they need to be ‘inside’ the system to be ‘knowledgeable’ and, consequently, obtain privileged information. On the one hand, should they use this information for themselves, then they would face prosecution for market abuse; on the other hand, however, if they use it to stir up the Regulator and shift its attention towards the whistle they’re blowing, then they may earn just as much money, if not more, than if they had behaved in a way that would have led them to prison.

 

The stage is thus set for the "business of virtue" to thrive.

 

 

 

Translated summaries

The translated summaries are done by the Editors and not by the Authors.

ENGLISH

The Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et des postes (ARCEP — French telecommunications and postal regulator) issued an injunction on November 4, 2010, ordering Numéricâble to sign a contract with France Telecom according to the latter’s new framework for accessing its telecommunications infrastructure for the installation of fiber optics. Failure to have complied within the imparted timeframe caused Numéricâble to be fined 5 million Euros by the ARCEP on December 20, 2011.

FRENCH

L’Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et de la poste (ARCEP) avait, par une décision du 4 novembre 2010, fait injonction à Numéricâble de contracter avec France Telecom selon la nouvelle offre de celui-ci pour l’accès à l’infrastructure de génie civil pour la fibre optique. Faute de l’avoir fait dans les délais, Numéricâble est condamné par une décision de l’ARCEP du 20 décembre 2011 à une amende de 5 millions d’euros.

SPANISH

La Autorité de régulation des Communications électroniques et des postes (ARCEP – el regulador francés de telecomunicaciones y servicios postales) emitió una mandamiento el 4 de noviembre del 2010, ordenando Numéricâble que firmara el contrato con France Telecom de acuerdo con el nuevo marco desarrollado por el último para acceder a la infraestructura de telecomunicaciones para la instalación de fibras ópticas. La inhabilidad de cumplir con este mandamiento en el tiempo definido resultó en una multa de 5 millones de Euros para Numéricâble de parte de la ARCEP el 20 de diciembre del 2011.

ITALIAN

Il 4 novembre 2010, la Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et des postes (ARCEP — l’Autorità francese di regolazione in materia di telecomunicazione e servizi postali) ha emesso un’ingiunzione, ordinando a Numéricâble di sottoscrivere un contratto con France Telecom secondo l’offerta di quest’ultima per l’accesso alle infrastrutture per l’installazione della fibra ottica. Il 20 dicembre 2011, a ragione del mancato rispetto di tale ordine, Numéricâble è stata multata per 5 milioni di euro dall’ARCEP.

ARABIC

الّسُّلطة التنظيمية للاتصالات الإلكترونية و الخِدمة البريدية(*) في قرار 4 نوفمبر 2010, دعت علا شركة نُمريك كابل(مشغل فِرنسٍي خاص) بالاتصال بالمؤسسة الفرنسية للاتصالات(فرانس تيلكوم)* وفق الطَّرح الجديد للوصول الا الهياكل الاساسية للهندسة المدنية للألياف البصرية. هذه لم تقوم بنفذ هذا القرار في الوقت المُحدَّد لذا حكمت علا نمريك كابل في قرار 20 ديسمبر 2011 بِدفع غرامة قدرها خمسة مليون يُورو. 

*(ARCEP) السلطة التنظيمية الاتصالات الالكترونية والخدمة البريدية:
*Numéricâble : نمريك كابل
*France Telecom : فرانس تيلكوم

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Other translations forthcoming.