01 Apr statute of limitations of the predicate offense and liability of entities

On the subject of corporate liability, in the presence of a declaration of prescription of the predicate offense, the judge, pursuant to Article. 8, co. 1, became. B, del d.lgs. 231/2001, must proceed with the autonomous assessment of the administrative liability of the legal person of the legal person in whose interest and to whose advantage the offense was committed; as well as, similarly, it must be made in the event of an acquittal of the natural person due to particular tenuousness of the fact. A tal fine, however, an incidental assessment is necessary and sufficient, the need for a definitive and complete assessment of individual criminal responsibility is not required (Cass. 23401/22).

In any case, art. 8 del d.lgs. 231/2001 provides that the liability of the entity exists even when the perpetrator of the crime has not been identified (or is not attributable); from this it is clear the autonomy of the responsibility of the entity with respect to that of the agent. Therefore the responsibility of the entity exists, and can be ascertained by the Judge, even if the perpetrator of the predicate offense has not been identified; in this way the P.M., if he has acquired little evidence against the perpetrator of the crime, can challenge the administrative offense only to the legal person.