The basic idea behind a principal witness program is that the investigation and prosecution of criminal offenses, particularly in white-collar matters, often causes difficulties, as the investigating authorities are frequently dependent on insider knowledge in order to make progress in the investigation or to become aware of criminal offenses in the first place.
The Austrian legislator therefore decided to incorporate the so-called “large principal witness rule” into Austrian criminal law. This rule came into force on January 1, 2011. It was initially limited to five years and was extended again for five years in 2016. Before the expiry of the time limit at the end of 2021, the scheme was extended again, this time for seven years.
In order to benefit from the principal witness rule, the person concerned must voluntarily approach the public prosecutor’s office and make a remorseful confession about his or her contribution to the crime. In doing so, he or she must also disclose his or her knowledge of new facts and evidence, the knowledge of which would substantially contribute to the clarification of the offense in question or to the identification of a leading person of a criminal conspiracy or a criminal orterrorist organization/association.
In practice, there have only been a few applications of the principal witness rule so far. One of the main problems is that the person concerned remains uncertain for a very long time as to whether the principal witness rule actually applies to him or whether he will still have to face criminal proceedings.
