THE CONCEPT OF A COMPANY FOR ECONOMICS CRIMES AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS AND LEGAL ENTITIES

The purpose of this paper is to determine the meaning of the term ‘company’ for the purposes of the law on economic crimes. This is particularly relevant with respect to crimes in the second and third categories, and to a lesser extent the fourth. The relevance of the question is based on the fact that the legislator has used it as a structural or fundamental element for the delimitation of what is understood as an economic crime and, as a consequence of this, to activate the special statute of sanction and additional consequences to the sanction applicable to persons responsible for economic crimes. To answer this question, we first turn to extra-criminal legislation. Next, we analyze article six of Law 21.595 and the respective referral that this provision makes to Law 20.416. Based on this, we conclude that it is not possible to include corporations and foundations within the concept of company, with the consequences that this entails. Finally, we point out the impact that this technique produces to the criminal statute of legal persons that was also modified by the law on economic crimes.