Amendments that exempt from liability for a number of economic crimes

Baku / 27.09.17 / Turan: The head of state sent a draft amendment to the parliament in the form of legislative initiative, which exempts from criminal liability for a number of economic crimes, in case of compensation for the damage caused. In particular, it is a crime against property and in the sphere of economic activity.

According to the proposed innovations, persons accused under Articles 178.1 (fraud, that is, taking possession of another's property by deception or abuse of trust), 179.1 (misappropriation or embezzlement), 186.1 (intentional destruction or damage to someone else's property), 187 (destruction or damage of property through negligence), 189-1.1 (theft of energy resources by illegal connection to the natural gas network, electric or heat networks) will be exempted from criminal liability if they agree with the victim and reimburse the damage.

In the current version of the Criminal Code, the above acts are punishable by fines, or correctional labor for up to two years.

It is suggested that even if as a result of the above actions a major damage was inflicted, then the person who repaid the damage and paid the same amount to the state budget is exempted from criminal liability.

At present, monetary fines or imprisonment up to 7 years are applied for these acts. For the same actions as part of an organized group for the liberation from criminal punishment it will be necessary to pay twice the amount of this damage to the state budget, as well as to compensate the victim.

According to the amendments, after compensation for damage from criminal liability, defendants are also released under Art. 209 (Evasion from payment of customs payments) and 213 (Evasion from payment of taxes) of the Criminal Code. Now these actions are punishable by fines and imprisonment up to 3 years. The bill will be submitted for discussion in parliament on September 29.-06D--