News
Henrique Salinas, Partner in charge of the Economic Penal & Compliance area of CCA Law Firm, in statements to ECO-Advocatus, comments on the EDP sanctioning regime, accused in case of excessive rents, in case of conviction. In a situation that has only been possible in Portugal for a little over a decade, EDP may at most have to pay a fine and will hardly be convicted without the CEO of the electricity company, António Mexia, also being convicted.
"The legal person does not act alone. The path consists of starting with the responsibility of the natural person, and only then proceed to the responsibility of the legal person. There are very concrete issues that can be an exception, such as the case of death, or if the person has been defrauded on by another person", explains the CCA partner.
Consequently, in order for EDP to be convicted, it is almost certain that the manager's guilt has also been proven, in which case, correspondence is made between imprisonment and a fine, according to the tables of the penal code. In the case of active corruption, imprisonment for individuals can range from one to five years in prison. The correspondence is that one month in prison equals 10 days of fine. Each day can vary between 100 and 10,000 euros. In the end, active corruption crime is, for a company, punishable by a penalty ranging from 12,000 to 6 million euros.
Nevertheless, regarding the application of the sentence, Henrique Salinas specifies that "the difference is so great that it gives the judge complete freedom in the choice, which raises questions of constitutionality".
- Read Full Article
- ECO-Advocatus