Characteristics of Criminal Liability of Political Parties in Corruption Offenses

Abstract

Political parties play a strategic role in advancing democracy, but they are increasingly faced with issues that cast a negative light on their organizations. These issues include, first, the involvement of political parties in various corruption cases, which damages their public image and reduces public trust in them; second, the legal debate surrounding the criminal liability of political parties implicated in corruption cases; and third, the challenge of imposing criminal sanctions on political parties or corporations as legal entities proven to have committed corruption offenses. Political parties are associations composed of individuals, an element defining them as organizations or management bodies within the parties. Political parties manage independent finances and are considered part of “organized wealth” and a “legal entity” capable of acting on their own behalf. This establishes that, fundamentally, political parties possess characteristics akin to corporations in the context of corruption offenses.