-12 witnesses and/or copies of supporting documentation from protected customers' records. In such cases the Justice Department will utilize Grand Jury subpoenas to compel production of the omitted information from the Supervisory Agencies or directly from their regulated financial institutions. 22. The Working Group will, by written request to the Justice Department, seek a clarification of the May 22, 1979, opinion to Deputy Attorney General Civiletti from the office of Legal Counsel relative to criminal referrals by the Supervisory Agencies and the requirements of the RFPA concerning customer notices in connection with such referrals. The Bank Bribery Act 23. The Working Group has addressed numerous questions and concerns relating to the Bank Bribery Act. Pub. L. No. 98-473, S 1107, 98 Stat. 2145 (1984), 18 U.S.c. § 215. In particular, the Group is exploring the possibility of clarifying the scope of the Act by regulations or policy statements issued by the Supervisory Agencies and/or by written guidance from the Justice Department. These matters will continue to be pursued by the Working Group. Continuation of the Working Group 24. The Working Group unanimously agrees that the communications and cooperation initiated by the Group have been positive and productive. Accordingly, the Working Group will continue to meet on a regular basis to discuss implementation of and any problems related to the matters set out herein and to share -13 information about specific criminal cases and other matters that may be of interest to all members of the Working Group. SUMMARY OF THE RATIONALE FOR CERTAIN OF THE MATTERS SET FORTH IN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT- Each of the numbered paragraphs in the attached "Agreements and Recommendations of the Justice Department-Supervisory Agencies Working Group" represents the results of lengthy discussion and consideration by the Group. This summary does not attempt to discuss all of the reasons for the many agreements and understandings that have been reached, but only to expand upon the rationale for certain of the more significant provisions. The Criminal Referral Process Paragraphs 1 through 6 of the Working Group Agreements set forth procedures for the use of a uniform criminal referral form by all of the Supervisory Agencies and by the financial institutions regulated by them. The proposed form itself is the product of considerable effort by the Working Group and is designed to relay the type of information deemed most important by the Justice Department for its assessment and investigation of matters referred by the Supervisory Agencies and their regulated financial institutions. The form and its detailed instructions will assure that such referrals are an effective means of notifying criminal law enforcement authorities of suspected offenses. In particular, a referral made by use of the form will identify the suspected criminal violation both in summary and in detailed form by instructing the preparer to give a chronological and complete account of the suspected violations by relating key events and identifying significant documents and potential witnesses. While the proposed referral form requests considerably more information than often has been provided in the past by the Supervisory Agencies and their regulated financial institutions, it is not intended to delay the referral process while all answers to the questions are gathered. (See Paragraph 5.) In fact, if certain information is not readily available to the preparer, he/she will be instructed to complete the known information and not delay the transmittal of the form. Moreover, the Working Group has designed a referral form that has a "short form" version for referrals that disclose suspected losses under $10,000 that do not involve "insiders". In terms of the volume of referrals received at this time by the Justice Department, such "smaller crimes represent the overwhelming majority of cases reported. The long form" version of the referral form will be utilized for all other criminal referrals by the Supervisory Agencies and their regulated financial institutions. that (Paragraph 2(a).) It is recognized that the actual approval of the form by each of the Supervisory Agencies and clearance for its use by OMB will take some time. The Working Group has agreed to cooperate fully in achieving use of the form in a substantially identical format. (Paragraph 2(b), (c), and (e).) Also key to the new referral process will be the implementation of regulations or other formal requirements by each of the Supervisory Agencies that require referrals to be made directly by their regulated -3 financial institutions (Paragraph 2(d)). Only if the referrals made by the financial institutions are inadequate or if a referral has not been made by an institution, will the Supervisory Agencies make the referral directly (Paragraph 3), its being understood that the Supervisory Agencies will promptly undertake to make referrals themselves in both circumstances, and will not rely on the institutions to do so unless the Agencies are assured that the institutions have made the referrals in a satisfactory manner. This procedure was adopted in the interest of administrative economy by the Supervisory Agencies, who believe that their limited resources will better be spent preparing the limited number of referrals on such matters as serious abuse by "insiders" of financial institutions, which referrals are unlikely to be made by the institutions themselves. The Working Group stresses that the existence of the referral form is not intended to prevent referrals by telephone or personal contact in emergency cases or any situation where the Agency believes that evidence or witnesses could disappear if there are delays in making the referral. (Paragraph 4.) the form is not intended to deter the preparation of more detailed referrals as deemed appropriate by the Supervisory Agencies. (Paragraph 4.) Similarly, The Working Group considered whether to identify an evidentiary standard for when criminal referrals are to be made, such as when "substantial evidence" of a crime has been discovered, but determined not to do so. Often the preparers of criminal referrals are not in a position to make such determinations, |