MEXICO Law and Practice Contributed by: Gilberto Miguel Valle Zulbarán, Alejandro Catalá Guerrero and Erick Gustavo Soto Ceballos, Basham, Ringe y Correa
tions is eight years; and if the investigation starts the day after the criminal offence was commit - ted, the public prosecutor will have up to 12 years to investigate and file charges against the defendant before a criminal judge, if the criminal investigation is launched from the first day after commission of the crime. The statute of limitations runs once the crime is committed, and can only be halted when the defendant is brought before a criminal judge for filing the charges against them. Therefore, the statute of limitations for investi - gating the criminal offences detailed in the above sections are the following, without considering the extensive term previously explained. • 2.1 Bribery : 1.15 years when the bribe is less than MXN54,285 and eight years when it is more. • 2.2 Influence-Peddling : four years. • 2.3 Financial Record-Keeping : 1.75 years. • 2.4 Public Officials : an average of six years. 3.2 Geographical Reach of Applicable Legislation The FCC is mainly applied when the act of cor - ruption is connected to the Federal Government, the Federal Judicial Branch or the Mexican Con - gress; federal autonomous constitutional bod - ies; federal public trusts; Mexican embassies, and consulates, among others. Additionally, the FCC has extraterritorial reach when the criminal offence is started, prepared, or committed abroad but has repercussions in Mexico; or is executed abroad and continues its commission in Mexico regardless of the perpe - trator’s nationality.
When the criminal offence is committed abroad by a Mexican against another Mexican(s) or foreigner(s), or by the latter against a Mexican(s), it will be prosecuted in Mexico pursuant to the FCC if the defendant resides or is found in Mex - ico, and was not convicted or acquitted in the country where the criminal offence was commit - ted, and the conduct is considered a criminal offence in both Mexico and the foreign country. On the other hand, the local criminal codes apply when the act of corruption is connected to the local governmental bodies and each state applies their own criminal codes. 3.3 Corporate Liability In the Federal Jurisdiction and in most of the local jurisdictions, companies can be held liable for the criminal offences detailed in section 2.1 Bribery and 2.2 Influence-Peddling . Addition - ally, in some local jurisdictions, companies can also be held liable for similar criminal offences to those detailed in section 2.4 Public Officials , depending on whether the crime comes under local jurisdiction, as explained in the above sec - tion. In general terms, for a company to be held liable for a criminal offence it must be proven that it was committed in its name, on its behalf, for its benefit or through the means it provided, and it should be also determined that there was a fail- ure to observe due control within the company. This means that it is necessary to prove that there is no due organisational control, which translates into the absence of organisation and management models, which include surveillance and control measures, suitable for preventing the kind of crimes for which the company is being charged, or to significantly reduce the risk of their commission.
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