An International Answer to Capturing Corporate Criminality

This article analyzes the main arguments of the opponents of introducing criminal liability for legal entities. The paper discusses its social causation and international obligations of Russia in this area. The author dwells on historical reasons of introducing criminal liability for legal entities in our country. The paper examines conceptual possibilities for establishing criminal liability of legal entities, its conformity with the principles of criminal law of Russia, the balance between criminal and administrative liability. The paper analyzes the possibility for a legal entity to commit a crime, the balance between criminal liability of a legal entity and a person, problems associated with the system of penalties for legal persons, a possibility of using foreign experience in this area. Also, it examines the possibility of integrating legal entities criminal liability rules into the current Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The author draws a conclusion concerning essential refutability of arguments of opponents of criminal liability of legal entities. The author argues for its introduction and justifies the objective necessity of its implementation into Russian criminal law for a variety of factors. The author specifies what should be borne in mind to implement it. It is noted that positive effects of its implementation can overcome all potential problems.

<em>Corporations are established with different objectives and ways to achieve different goals, not only in ways that are permitted by law but also in ways that are prohibited by law. Today, corporations are frequently involved in various criminal acts or used as a means to commit criminal acts. Therefore, it is a fact that cannot be denied that the role of corporations is currently very important in people's lives. Corporations as perpetrators of criminal acts in terms of criminal liability need to be considered carefully. Because today's corporations are increasingly playing an important role in people's lives, especially in the economic sector, Business activities, or the business world in general, are the main basis for meeting the competitive needs of life. In the United States and the United Kingdom, they also regulate corporate criminal liability, so the problem that can be formulated is how corporate criminal responsibility is regulated in Indonesia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The research was carried out using a normative-juridical method using secondary data that was used as research material. The results of the study show that corporate criminal responsibility in Indonesia and other countries has agreements and differences, both in terms of regulation and the application of sanctions</em>

The fight against corruption is a national and international primary concern for lawmakers and enforcement officials. Corporate criminal liability is an aberration of imputing criminal responsibility on a corporation against a natural person, which requires a combined effect of the actus reus and mens rea. A corporation incapable of committing a crime imputes corporate mens rea through its directors, senior managers or officers that constitute executive powers. In doing so, Malaysia uses the identification doctrine to impute mens rea. This article evaluated the most effective technique of establishing mens rea in dealing with modern corporate criminal responsibility. It used a doctrinal library- based research method to review pertinent corporate criminal liability literature, cases and legislations. The journal articles, cases and legislations were collected and analysed according to the themes to achieve the research objective. It was discovered that Malaysia still uses identification doctrine to prove corporate mens rea, making it difficult and near impossible to find large and multinational corporations liable since the directing mind and will are not actively involved in the corporations’ day-to-day operations. However, intention can still be imputed on the corporation based on its corporate culture. Hence, for section 17A of the MACC Act 2009 (2018 amendment) on bribery to be effective, there is a need for a shift from the use of identification doctrine in proving mens rea to corporate culture as that would balance the discrimination and unfairness of the identification doctrine and make it easier for large and multinational corporations to be charged with corporate criminal liability.

The article analyzes the types of legal liability for violation of anti-corruption legislation in foreign countries. In particular, the article reveales the peculiarities of bringing to civil, administrative and criminal liability. The consolidation of different types of responsibility in the regulations of foreign countries is studied with its common and distinctive features. It is also established that as a type of legal liability, civil liability is not integrated into civil law, unlike administrative and criminal law. Most often, civil law mechanisms are not provided in civil, but in anti-corruption legislation and other legislations. In foreign countries much more widely is applied administrative liability for the corruption actions against both individuals and legal entities, the rules of which can also be found in anti-corruption legislation, laws on interest conflicts, codes of administrative violations. As for criminal liability for violating the corruption legislation, it exists in all countries, where the list of prohibited acts of corruption is periodically updated depending on the emergence of new corruption threats and risks. The emphasis is placed on the fact that foreign countries use various mechanisms to bring legal entities to justice, but most often such rules are contained in criminal codes. Another mechanism for introducing the institution of criminal liability of legal entities is the adoption of special laws on criminal liability for legal entities, the common features of which are: the definition of the main features of criminal liability of legal entities; transfer of body of crime for which legal entities are responsible; references to criminal, criminal-procedural and criminal-executive legislation, according to which the investigation and consideration of criminal cases on crimes committed by legal entities, as well as the execution of sentences are carried out in the general order. The article analyses the sanctions that can be applied in committing a corruption crime. Particular attention is paid to the liability of legal entities for violations of legislation in the field of prevention of corruption and sanctions applied to legal entities. Key words: corruption, anti-corruption legislation, legal liability, criminal liability, administrative liability, civil liability, sanctions, legal entities.

This research is motivated by the limited application of corporate criminal liability in tax crimes in Indonesia, despite the clear existence of legal provisions governing such liability. This condition reveals a significant gap between legal norms and enforcement practices, where criminal sanctions are more frequently imposed on individual executives rather than on corporations as legal entities. The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that hinder the implementation of corporate criminal prosecution in tax crimes and to examine the role of the new Indonesian Criminal Code as a momentum for criminal law reform. The research employs a normative juridical method by reviewing relevant legislation, legal doctrines, academic literature, and judicial decisions. The findings indicate that the main obstacles to imposing criminal liability on corporations do not stem from the absence of legal basis but from the dominance of administrative approaches in the General Taxation Provisions and Procedures Law, doctrinal barriers arising from classical criminal law principles such as nulla poena sine culpa, and the reluctance of law enforcement officials to treat corporations as the principal perpetrators of tax crimes. The study concludes that the effectiveness of corporate criminal prosecution depends largely on political will, paradigm shifts among law enforcement institutions, and judicial consistency in applying substantive justice. Furthermore, the research emphasizes the need for clear technical guidelines and strong institutional coordination, with the new Criminal Code serving as a strategic opportunity to strengthen deterrence, ensure fiscal justice, and enhance the integrity of Indonesia’s tax law enforcement system.

The article is devoted to the issues of criminal liability of legal entities in the Republic of Latvia, established in 2005 by amending the Criminal Law of the Republic of Latvia. Attention is drawn to the fact that in the Latvian legislation a model of criminal liability is implemented, in which a legal entity is recognized not as a subject of a crime, but as a subject of criminal liability, to which measures of a coercive nature provided for by the Criminal Law are applied. At the same time, only legal entities of private law are subject to criminal liability, while the law does not provide for bringing public legal entities to criminal liability. The reasons for the application of enforcement measures to legal entities and the types of such measures are considered. It is indicated that compulsory measures against a legal entity can be applied for a criminal act if it was committed in the interests of the relevant legal entity, in its favor or as a result of improper supervision on its part by a responsible individual who acted individually or as part of a collegial body of a legal entity. In this case, a specially authorized person means a person who acted: on the basis of the right to represent a legal entity or act on its behalf; on the basis of the right to make decisions on behalf of a legal entity; or on the basis of the right to exercise control within a legal entity. The author considers the enforcement measures applied to legal entities (liquidation; restriction of rights; confiscation of property; monetary recovery), as well as criminal procedural issues of the application of compulsory measures to legal entities.

The development of corporations as main actors in economic activities brings significant impacts, both positive and negative on society and the environment. The phenomenon of corporate crime that harms the state, the public, and the environment drives the urgency of reforming corporate criminal liability in the Indonesian criminal law system. This study conceptually examines corporate criminal liability through a normative juridical and comparative approach, analyzing doctrines of criminal liability such as strict liability and vicarious liability (Article 37 of Indonesia’s new Criminal Code), as well as exploring the development of other liability models like corporate culture, identification theory, and management failure, which are relevant for application in Indonesian Criminal Law. In Indonesia’s new Criminal Code (KUHP), the recognition of corporations as criminal law subjects and their criminal liability is regulated under Articles 45 to 49, although normative problems persist concerning fault boundaries, structural relationships, criteria, and limitations of criminal liability. The study’s findings indicate that corporate punishment demands a legal system that is adaptive, and accountable, and considers organizational structure and internal corporate culture while upholding the principles of justice and proportionality in criminal law. By adopting contemporary theories and strengthening norms in sectoral laws, the corporate criminal liability system is expected to be able to provide deterrent effects and more effective protection for public interests.

The article is dedicated to review of the laws of the Republic of Montenegro on the criminal liability of legal entities; the main acts are the Special Law on the Liability of Legal Entities for Criminal Offenses of 2006, the Criminal Code of the Republic of Montenegro and the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Montenegro. The publication reviews statutory resolutions allowing consideration of a legal entity as a criminal liability subject; gives a scope of persons who can be brought to criminal liability; pays attention to the fact that legal entities in the Republic of Montenegro may be brought to criminal liability for any actions acknowledged as crimes by the national criminal laws with no exceptions; specifies articles of the General Part of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Montenegro, provisions of which are applied to bringing legal entities to criminal liability; reviews such criminal sanction types applicable to legal entities as a fi ne, liquidation of a legal entity, forfeiture and sentence publication; analyzes circumstances considered at punishment imposition and the conditions for release from punishment. The author notes criminal procedure peculiarities of bringing legal entities to liability including broad discretionary powers of a prosecutor in resolution of issues on bringing legal entities to criminal liability

Land grabbing by corporate entities is a form of structural crime that has a wide impact on land rights, the environment, and social justice in Indonesia. This practice is carried out through various manipulative mechanisms such as falsification of documents, power co-optation, and legal-formal but socially illegitimate land tenure. Unfortunately, the national criminal law framework has not been fully able to reach the complexity of these corporate crimes. This study aims to analyze corporate criminal liability in agrarian crimes with a normative juridical approach through a study of the Criminal Code, UUPA, and PPLH Law. The theory of corporate criminal liability and the concept of piercing the corporate veil are used to connect structural errors in the corporate body with criminal offenses that occur. The results of the study show that there are normative gaps and weaknesses in law enforcement, especially in making corporations the subject of crime effectively. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate criminal, agrarian, and environmental law, as well as the establishment of special criminal norms that are lex specialis in agrarian law. The novelty of this research lies in the offer of reconstruction of corporate criminal law enforcement based on substantive justice. This reform is expected to be able to encourage agrarian sovereignty and the protection of people's constitutional rights

The history of tortious acts had known individuals as the only entities who, through their specific actions, performed the different types of legal dishonesty. There could be punished the person who, by taking an action or by its omission, produced a prohibited consequence. However, the development of industrialization and the expansion of economic activity have led to the establishment of legal or business entities. They marched in different types of legal relationships being based on the desire for profit. In this context, there appeared the first forms of illegal activities performed by legal entities in the financial sphere. The final consequence of illegal actions taken by legal entities was reflected in causing extremely large damage being beyond the one which could be made by people as subjects of tort liability. Regarding the fact that law is a faithful companion of social events, it is natural that there were attempts of a legal regulation of the activities of legal entities as the answer to their illicit conduct. Hence, the tort liability of legal entities may be divided into: misdemeanor liability, economic leap responsibility and criminal liability. Last decade there was, for the first time, introduced criminal liability of legal entities in Serbia, by which our country was classified among legally regulated European countries. However, this does not exclude their liability for violations and economic crimes as special forms of tort liability. Starting from the previously mentioned facts, the author wishes to point out the basic elements of all three forms of tort liability of legal entities in our legal system. The order of the presentation will be aligned with the time of their introduction into our positive law. Therefore, first there will be said something about the misdemeanor, then about the economic leap and criminal liability of legal entities.

The article is dedicated to the issues of introduction of criminal liability of legal entities in Hungary. Attention is paid to the fact that the establishment of criminal liability of legal entities in this country has been largely caused by the need for bringing its national laws in compliance with the provisions of a number of acts of the European Union (EU) and its membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Hungarian legal acts on criminal liability of legal entities are reviewed; the main of them are the special omnibus law On Measures Applicable to Legal Entities within the Framework of Criminal Law 2001 which came into effect on May 1, 2004, and contains provisions of criminal and criminal procedure law as well as the Hungarian Criminal Code 2012 which came into effect on July 1, 2013. It is indicated that under the Hungarian laws, a legal entity is a criminal liability subject criminal law measures are applicable to. At the same time, it is highlighted that not all legal entities can be held criminally liable. It is noted that criminal liability of legal entities is possible in case of any willful violation of the Hungarian Criminal Code by an individual acting in the interests of a legal entity in case of the presence of conditions stipulated by the law. Criminal law measures applicable to legal entities are named: liquidation, fine, restriction of activity. A conclusion is made that in Hungary, criminal liability of a legal entity is understood as application of criminal law measures to a legal entity by court in the course of a criminal procedure in the event of a willful crime (criminally punishable act) committed by an individual acting in the interests of the corresponding legal entity upon the presence of conditions stipulated by the law On Measures Applicable to Legal Entities within the Framework of Criminal Law 2001.

The article is devoted to Swedish legislation on criminal liability of legal entities. It is substantiated that the criminal liability of legal entities in Sweden is the application of sanctions to a legal entity in cases provided for by criminal law. The sanctions provided for by Swedish legislation for legal entities for committing crimes (corporate fines and confiscation), the relationship between the crime of an individual and the prosecution of a legal entity are analyzed. It is noted that the basis for applying criminal sanctions to a legal entity is a crime committed by an individual while the legal entity is carrying out entrepreneurial (commercial) activities. The crimes for the commission of which a legal entity can be held liable are indicated. The procedural procedure for bringing a legal entity to criminal liability for committing a crime and the practice of applying sanctions to legal entities, as well as the prospects for the development of Swedish legislation on criminal liability of legal entities are considered.

Corporate criminal liability has undergone significant transformation over the past three decades as globalization, technological advancement, and complex corporate structures reshape how crimes are conceptualized and prosecuted. From financial fraud, money laundering, and environmental violations to human rights abuses and cybercrimes, corporations now occupy a central position in global regulatory frameworks. This research paper examines the evolution of corporate criminal liability across leading jurisdictions—including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Australia, Canada, and India—exploring shifts from traditional identification doctrines to modern standards such as vicarious liability, corporate culture tests, failure-to-prevent offences, and compliance-based defenses. The paper integrates legal theory, comparative analysis, case law, and regulatory reforms to highlight emerging trends and challenges. Findings emphasize the growing movement toward strict liability, expanded mens rea, organizational fault doctrines, and global harmonization through anti-corruption and anti-bribery treaties. The study concludes with recommendations for developing a more coherent, deterrent, and ethically aligned model of corporate criminal accountability in the twenty-first century.

The number of European countries which have included into their national legislation the provision on criminal liability for legal persons (corporations) has been continuously growing. The following countries remain essential supporters of preserving criminal liability for individual guilt: Germany, Russia, Italy, and, may be, Poland, where after the adoption of the Law on Liability of Collective Entities for punishable offences, the Constitutional Tribunal in 1994 adopted the decision to consider this liability to be not criminal, but sui generis. Some Russian legal theorists were quick to support the tendency to recognize the practicability of introducing criminal liability for legal persons in spite of centuries-old traditions of liability for a personal guilt that is characteristic of the criminal law of the European continental countries. This can be explained by an excessive influence of the Anglo-Saxon common law countries, whose representatives went all out during the preparation of many international conventions to include into them the provisions that require establishing criminal liability for legal persons in national legislations of the European countries. But none of such conventions mentions the basis for criminal liability of legal persons. They fail to mention this fact, otherwise they would have to state that such liability suggests only strict liability. The author of the article tries to prove the irrelevancy of the above-mentioned type of liability in Russia with its rather effective administrative law and fairly solid provisions of the civil legislation which help to efficiently fight the damage incurred by legal persons (corporations) to different entities protected by the law. Introduction of the provisions on criminal liability for legal persons into the Russian criminal legislation touches upon the foundation on which all types of legal liability in this country are based on, as well as domestic centuries-old traditions, for it is not possible, without changing anything in the principal structure of the criminal responsibility, to simply include, without solid justification of the adopted changes, a new provision into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, in which only a range of criminal acts for which legal persons may be liable would be outlined, without indicating grounds for their criminal liability, in contrast with the grounds for the liability of physical persons.

All business entities, including private universities, have always to deal with changes in their environment. One of the keys to address such changes is digital technology. The present study examines the extent to which corporate culture affects the implementation of a digital transformation strategy in private universities. Data were collected through a survey addressed to 39 top management executives from different private universities in Garut, West Java, Indonesia. Data analysis was carried out by means of SmartPLS. The results showed that corporate culture in private universities had a significant effect on the implementation of digital transformation strategy in their organizations. This is associated with factors other than technological aspects such as human resources, behavior, and organizational culture.