27 March 2016
The Criminal Division of the Supreme Court has confirmed the sentence imposed by the Audiencia Nacional on three companies for their participation in crimes against public health. These companies will face a substantial financial fine, and two of them will face the penalty of dissolution.
The High Court, ruling for the first time on the important issue of criminal liability of legal persons, details in its legal grounds the necessary requirements for assessing the criminal liability of the legal person, in accordance with Article 31 bis of the Criminal Code, highlighting firstly that it must be established that a crime has been committed by a natural person who is a member of the legal person (in this case, de facto and de jure directors), and furthermore that the companies have failed to fulfil their obligation to establish surveillance and control measures to prevent the commission of crimes.
It is not in vain that this Judgment establishes that: ‘The core of the liability of the legal person which, as we have been saying, is none other than the absence of adequate control measures to avoid the commission of crimes, which demonstrate a serious will to reinforce the virtuality of the rule, independently of those requirements, more specific in law in the form of the so-called “compliances” or “compliance models”, demanded for the application of the exonerating circumstance which, moreover, certain legal persons, due to their small size or lower economic capacity, could not fully implement’. The ‘compliances’ or ‘compliance models’ required for the application of the exemption which, moreover, certain legal persons, due to their small size or lesser economic capacity, could not fully implement’.
This ruling highlights the importance of having a crime prevention model in place for each type of company.
You can read the full judgment here.
