Briber to Be Exempt from Criminal Liability Under Two Conditions: New Draft Bill

The Ministry of Justice recently presented a new draft law on the unified website for the publication of legal acts, proposing to amend Article 312, Part 4 of the Criminal Code of 2003 as follows: “A person who gives a bribe is exempt from criminal liability if there has been a case of extortion of the bribe, or if that person has voluntarily reported the giving of the bribe to the criminal prosecution authorities (except if the person was aware of the criminal prosecution authorities having knowledge of the crime).”

The justification for the draft mentions that the current Article 312 of the Criminal Code imposes criminal liability for giving a bribe to an official. Part 4 of the article provides for a incentivizing norm, which states that a person who gives a bribe is exempt from criminal liability if there has been extortion of the bribe, and that person has voluntarily reported it to the criminal prosecution authorities before the matter becomes known to them, but no later than three days after the commission of the crime, while cooperating with the investigation.

Currently, the application of this incentivizing norm requires the simultaneous presence of certain conditions stipulated in Article 312, Part 4: 1. Presence of bribe extortion; 2. Voluntary reporting of the crime to the prosecution authorities; 3. Reporting of the crime within three days after its commission; 4. Unawareness of the authorities regarding the bribe-giving; 5. Assistance to the investigation.

Moreover, the application of the incentivizing norm necessitates the simultaneous existence of all five conditions. If even one is absent, the individual cannot be exempted from criminal liability. It is evident that ensuring the simultaneous fulfillment of these conditions is practically unrealistic. For example, the Ministry of Justice noted in its justification that imposing a three-day deadline for exemption from criminal liability is unreasonable, as there may be instances where a person is unable to report to the authorities due to physical or technical issues within the set timeframe.

The Ministry also addressed other conditions, highlighting their problematic aspects. Prior to legislative amendments, the incentivizing norm functioned differently: “A person who gives a bribe is exempt from criminal liability if there has been extortion of the bribe or if that person has voluntarily reported it to law enforcement agencies.” Thus, there were two conditions under which a person could be exempted from criminal liability, with the presence of at least one being sufficient for the application of the norm. Now, the Ministry proposes to amend the law’s incentivizing norm, allowing for exemption from criminal liability under either the condition of bribe extortion or the voluntary reporting of the bribe to prosecution authorities. This means that the presence of just one of the two conditions will be sufficient for protecting the briber from liability.

The full article can be read in today’s issue of the newspaper.