This is especially true in the case before me, of course, if the facts alleged in the indictment are proven.
Habib Segal, in her book Corporate Law, notes that the development of penal law has also necessitated the imposition of liability on corporations (ibid., at p. 145):
"Over the years, the goals of penal law have expanded: penal law is used today to overcome various enforcement problems...They are used to deter corporations from conducting certain areas of activity...Moreover, life experience has gradually taught that there are undesirable areas of activity that are typical of corporations only...Over the years, the penal law has also been mobilized in order to promote the goals of deterrence in these areas of activity. These laws can be found effective, only to the extent that the legal system is willing to recognize the criminal liability of corporations....In the same way, over the years, it has become clear that a corporation can serve as a "cover" against enforcement, so that the bureaucratic organization of the corporation makes it difficult to locate the offenses, or to locate the perpetrators of the offenses within the corporation...Against this background, the understanding has developed that the recognition of corporate offenses is essential for the enforcement of the original penal laws themselves."
On the international level, this goal was also discussed. Thus, in a report prepared by the OECD: The Liability of Legal Persons for Foreign Bribery: A Stocktaking Report (OECD) (2016), the purpose of imposing criminal liability on corporations was discussed as follows (ibid., at p. 3):
"The liability of legal persons is a key feature of the emerging legal infrastructure for the global economy. Without it, governments face a losing battle in the fight against foreign bribery and other complex economic crimes."
To this end, the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (hereinafter: the Convention on the Prevention of Bribery), obligated all signatories to the Convention to establish liability for bribery offenses outside the country's borders. The report shows that most of the countries that signed the Convention against Bribery have adopted criminal liability for corporations.