Introduction

Matrix organization

Mergers by absorption

Risks related to the expansion of the scope of criminal liability of legal entities

Validity conditions

Proof of delegation

Exemption from individual liability of delegator

Attribution of offense to legal entity

Delegations of authority

Criminal risk management within business organizations

Complicity in crimes against humanity

Breaches of secrecy

Personal data breaches

Theft

Extortion

Blackmail

Fraud

Misappropriation

Receiving/concealment of unlawfully obtained property (recel)

Attacks on automated data processing systems

Money laundering

Misappropriation by public official (concussion)

Corruption and influence peddling

Unlawful acquisition of an interest

Favoritism

Forgery and use of forgeries

Violation of Criminal Code

Offenses under the Monetary and Financial Code

Offenses under the Commercial Code

Environmental Code violations

Offenses arising from other codes

Types of offenses

Offenses under the Criminal Code, the Commercial Code, or the Environmental Code, Criminal procedure

White Collar Crime (en cours)

The provisions relating to corruption require that solicitation or acceptance occur “sans droit”; in other words without legitimate justification. The profit gained by the person accepting the bribe can be direct or indirect. Thus, a mayor who unjustifiably demands money in exchange for issuing a building permit, which primarily benefits the municipality of which he is mayor, is nonetheless guilty …

Regime

The provisions relating to corruption require that solicitation or acceptance occur “sans droit”; in other words without legitimate justification. The profit gained by the person accepting the bribe can be direct or indirect. Thus, a mayor who unjustifiably demands money in exchange for issuing a building permit, which primarily benefits the municipality of which he is mayor, is nonetheless guilty of passive corruption .

The solicitation or acceptance can take place “at any time,” meaning upstream, as an incentive, or downstream, as a thank you for the act performed or the abstention already obtained. Indeed, Law No 2000-595 of 30 June 2000 on combating corruption, in order to allow broader prosecution of acts of corruption, removed the condition of the solicitation or agreement preceding the act of the function , but it was not until Law No 2011-525 of 17 May 2011 on the simplification and improvement of the quality of law that this condition of precedence was definitively removed from the provisions for criminal prosecution .

Furthermore, corruption constitutes a formal offense, which takes place independently of the result, meaning even if the corruption pact is not effectively executed . It is therefore irrelevant whether the advantage was received by the person concerned: the mere proposal, solicitation, or acceptance is sufficient to consummate the offense of corruption . Thus, the offense is constituted by the handing over of a sum of money by an individual to the president of a community of communes for the realization of a project, even though it did not succeed, the defendant intended to return this sum of money, and ultimately, he burned this money at his home .

Instantaneous offense, consummated upon the conclusion of the pact between the corrupter and the corrupted, corruption is renewed with each act of execution of the pact , that is, with each act performed or abstained from by the corrupted. Thus, the starting point for the statute of limitations for public action runs from the last act performed or the last abstention. The statute of limitations is therefore not acquired when the corruption pact requires a bank to grant credits to judicial representatives at advantageous rates over a long period, in exchange for the deposit of funds they hold professionally, as each deposit constitutes an act of execution of the corruption pact . In the case of concealment of acts of corruption, the statute of limitations only begins to run from the day the offense became apparent and could be established under conditions allowing for the exercise of public action .

In all cases, as soon as corruption is committed on French national territory , it falls under the jurisdiction of French criminal law, even if the perpetrator or the victims do not hold French nationality and regardless of whether it is punished by the criminal legislation of the perpetrator's home state .

Alongside public actions, a civil prosecution for damages for the harm caused by the offense is available to its victims in accordance with Article 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure . They may claim both material and moral damages, such as the serious harm to the reputation of a municipality caused by the acts of corruption of its mayor . As the offenses of corruption and complicity are related, the defendants may be jointly liable for the payment of damages .

Cass. crim., 20 May 2009, LawLex202200003378JBJ.

For an example of the application of the condition of anteriority: Cass. crim., 13 December 1972, LawLex202300001274JBJ.

Cass. crim., 1 March 2000, LawLex202300001277JBJ.

Cass. crim., 4 February 1997, LawLex202200010751JBJ, admitting the civil suits by sports federations against acts of corruption of professional players.

Cass. crim., 14 March 2007, LawLex202300001623JBJ.

Cass. crim., 14 March 2007, LawLex202300001623JBJ; 20 May 2009, LawLex202200008243JBJ.

The terms “accomplir ou s'abstenir d'accomplir” (perform or to refrain from performing") have been replaced by “accomplir ou avoir accompli, [...] s'abstenir ou s'être abstenue d'accomplir.” (perform or have performed, [...] refrain or have refrained from performing.)

Cass. crim., 4 July 1974, LawLex202200003417JBJ.

Cass. crim., 10 June 1948, LawLex202200003413JBJ; 9 November 1995, LawLex200300000841JBJ.

Cass. crim., 27 June 2018, LawLex202200009418JBJ.

Cass. crim., 6 February 1969, LawLex202200008095JBJ; 9 November 1995, LawLex200300000841JBJ; 12 May 1998, LawLex202200003419JBJ; 8 October 2003, LawLex202200010266JBJ; Cass. crim., 29 June 2005, LawLex202200010262JBJ; 6 May 2009, LawLex202300001280JBJ; 7 May 2024, LawLex202400003548JBJ, LawLex202400003587JBJ, LawLex202400003588JBJ; 18 September 2024, LawLex202400006613JBJ.

Cass. crim., 16 June 2011, LawLex202200010265JBJ; 8 October 2003, LawLex202200010266JBJ.

Cass. crim., 6 May 2009, LawLex202300001280JBJ.

Cass. crim., 14 March 2018, LawLex202200007749JBJ.

White Collar Crime (en cours)

122. Regime

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

122. Regime

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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