LEGAL MATTERS: Criminal liability of companies…directors can be let off the hook

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THE release of the Pandora Papers on October 4, 2021 caused quite a tumult. Thousands of companies, and the influential people behind them, were implicated in fraudulent misrepresentations, participating in and benefitting from illicit financial flows, concealing assets for the purpose of tax evasion and tax avoidance.

This begs the question, when a corporate body like a company commits a crime, who is liable? The company itself or the people acting through the company? In this week’s article, I will look at the criminal liability of corporate bodies, who is implicated in crimes attributed and how, if possible, they can get off the hook.