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Criminal Case (Tel Aviv) 4368-05-16 State of Israel v. Siemens Israel Ltd. - part 21

July 3, 2017
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She adds on page 84:

"The aspiration to optimize the incriminating sanctions is based on the assumption that managers will be willing to break the law if it is beneficial for the company or for them.  Therefore, the imposition of a criminal sanction on the company, in parallel with the imposition of a criminal sanction on the organ, is supposed to deal with this difficulty.".

Kremnitzer and Ghanaim, Corporate Liability, the authors clarify that imposing criminal liability on corporations is consistent with the basic principles of penal law  (p. 59):

"The corporation is a legal body.  Corporations are involved in economic and social life and have a great impact.  The corporation is a tangible entity, it is a reality.  It is not fiction and it is not artificial.  The corporation is a legal body with rights and obligations and even in criminal law.....The corporation was founded to promote a social purpose: the economic purpose of the shareholders, such as a commercial company for profit, or a social purpose for the purpose of promoting public welfare, such as non-profit organizations.....The corporation has social obligations.  The corporation must fulfill its obligations and must not act in contravention of the law, including legislation that concerns the welfare of the public..."

They add that the principles of punishment, including retribution and deterrence, are also fulfilled in the imposition of criminal liability on corporations (at p. 73 the authors note):

"Corporations have an impact on the management of social life in general and economic life in particular.  There is a real concern that the legitimate goal  in itself, of making profits, will motivate corporations to act to achieve this goal, even at the cost of violating the rules of law.  Indeed,  it is reported that the economic damage caused by the activities of corporations is very great.  This situation causes severe damage to the public's trust in the economic and legal system.  Imposing criminal liability on a corporation may strengthen the public's confidence in the economic system in general, and in the consequences of the punitive prohibitions relevant to economic activity in particular.  Moreover, there are special considerations related to the nature of the corporation's activity and those who operate within it that justify punishing the corporation.  Committing offenses within the framework of a corporation is, more than once, the result of an atmosphere that encourages their committal...and even of the desire of the workers within the framework of the corporation to  "excel" or to be liked or to promote the good of the corporation, and in this way also themselves.  In other words, not imposing criminal liability on a corporation may constitute an encouragement to commit criminal acts that benefit the corporation."

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