New Amendments to Criminal Code

New Amendments to Criminal Code

Media News. In cooperation with the Financial Monitoring Service of Georgia, the Ministry of Justice has worked out a draft for legislative amendments in the field of criminal law. The draft foresees the punishment of legal entities (i.e. Ltd. Joint-stock company, corporation and so on) according to criminal law prinicples.

International organizations advise Georgia to establish the relevant norms in the country’s legislation so that juridical entities are brought to account. Such demand also exists in international agreements to which Georgia is a state party.

The current legislation in criminal law foresees only the punishment of natural persons, though law-making practice shows, that there are frequent cases of crimes being committed for the benefit of juridical persons or by using the later. In this case it is possible to punish the natural person and not the legal one, who goes on working in the usual way even if his collaborator has been punished according to criminal law.

Juridical persons are often involved in the legalization of illegal incomes; they support terrorist and criminal organizations, trafficking etc. According to the draft, juridical persons will be brought to account, if for the benefit of the later the following crimes are committed: trafficking of human beings, legalization of illegal income, commercial bribery, participation in forcible groups, terrorist act, technological terrorism, cyber terrorism, assault on the person of political post, establishment, leadership or participation in terrorist organization, involvement in the terrorist organization of foreign country or membership of such organization subordinated to the control of foreign country, their assistance, taking hostage with terrorist aim, seize or blocking of an object of strategic or prime importance with terrorist aim, financial support of terrorism, bribery, corruptive influence, hindering of law-making or preliminary investigation, threat or violence regarding law-making process or preliminary investigation, subornation or compulsion of a witness, victim, expert or  an interpreter.

If a juridical person is brought to account, he may be punished through imposing taxes, the deprivation of property or their right of operation, at worst through liquidation of property.