PANAMA Law and Practice Contributed by: Inocencio Galindo, Omar Rodriguez, Maria Eugenia Brenes and Joy Paull Torres, Morgan & Morgan
As long as the crime allows it, in view of the list of withdrawable crimes in the Criminal Code, methods other than a penalty agreement could be explored. For example, the forgery of documents is a crime that can be withdrawn, just as intellectual property crimes can be subject to mediation. Moreover, even if it is explored in the appropriate way, the prosecutor can decide to dispense with the action if it is of low importance to society. For example, the prosecutor has the right not to continue with a criminal case for trade mark counterfeiting, provided that the perpetra - tor reaches an agreement with the trade mark owner to pay damages. Agreements with the prosecutor’s office do not depend on the implementation of improvements in compliance programmes. 3. White-Collar Offences 3.1 Criminal Company Law and Corporate Fraud Article 51 of the Criminal Code is the only rule that refers to the liability of legal entities, and only con - templates sanctions for them, not penalties. Any crime included in the Criminal Code that refers to the involvement of an entity in criminal conduct, whether by commission or omission, can carry the correspond - ing sanction, as long as it is proven that the legal entity was used or created for it – this sanction ranges from a fine to the dissolution of the entity, without neglect - ing the attribution of criminal responsibility to those natural persons who had some dominion or control over the act. The Criminal Code imposes severe penalties for various white-collar crimes. Document falsification, covered in Chapter I of Title XI of the Code (Crimes Section), includes altering public and electronic docu - ments, with penalties ranging from one to 15 years depending on the document type and severity. Fraud under Article 243 involves the misuse of finan - cial resources and is punishable by four to eight years in prison, with harsher penalties for those exploiting their positions. The crime was designed for financial institutions, with aggravating circumstances for those
who had the power to exercise such acts or who were employees of a trust. Article 244 addresses the falsification of financial records, which is sometimes used to maintain or obtain credit facilities fraudulently. The Article imposes six to eight years of imprisonment. The newly included crime of tax evasion, under Arti - cle 288-G, penalises intentional tax fraud with two to four years in prison, as long as the fraud exceeds USD300,000 within a calendar year. Money laundering, detailed in Article 254, involves handling illicit funds from serious crimes and carries a penalty of five to 12 years in prison. The above-mentioned additions to the law reflect Panama’s commitment to combating financial crimes and enhancing legal transparency. The existence of a preceding crime is at least indicatively necessary. 3.2 Bribery, Influence Peddling and Related Offences According to the Criminal Code, bribery involves the unlawful solicitation, acceptance or offering of ben - efits to influence the actions of a public servant. Crimi - nal law classifies bribery in the following way. • Bribery (Article 345 of the Criminal Code): a public servant accepts, receives or solicits any form of benefit to perform, omit or delay an act in violation of their duties, or because of failing to fulfil their duties. This also includes accepting benefits to perform acts inherent to their position without fail - ing in their duties. • Bribery in procedural actions (Article 346 of the Criminal Code): a public servant in a judicial or administrative role accepts, receives or solicits benefits to harm or favour a party in a process. This includes issuing resolutions contrary to the law, giving legal advice to parties or maliciously delaying processes. If this results in the convic - tion of an innocent person, the penalties are more severe. • Bribery for giving or offering (Article 347 of the Criminal Code): a person offers, promises or gives a public servant any benefit to influence their
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