The FH UNAIR podcast series was held again on Wednesday (19/10/2022). This time, the topic raised in this broadcast is “The Update on Corporate Criminal Responsibility in Indonesia and in the Netherlands.” Two speakers were presented: Erasmus University Criminal Law Expert Prof. Joost Nan and UNAIR Criminal Law Expert Maradona, Ph.D.
Prof. Nan said corporate criminal liability in the Netherlands rests on Article 51 Wetboek van Strafrecht (WvS), or the Criminal Code. The article allows legal entities and people who have control of the corporation to commit a crime. He explained that this article enables corporate punishment for all criminal acts.
“Often, the types of crimes committed by corporations are economic crimes, such as environmental pollution or monopoly. However, legal entities can also be charged with assisting crimes such as murder. This is theoretically possible if a murder has a direct benefit or ties to the activities of a corporation,” said the Dutch academic.
The Dutch criminal law landscape distinguishes between models of criminal liability for legal entities and individuals. So in corporate crime, there are different evidentiary models for legal entities and individuals in the corporation. However, Prof. Nan said that in practice, the board of directors or commissioners couldn’t know about criminal acts committed by corporations.
Maradona explained that the model applied by the Dutch should be the direction of criminal law reform in Indonesia. This is because Indonesia does not have the equivalent of Article 51 WvS, which unifies corporate responsibility for all types of criminal acts. Corporate criminal liability in Indonesia varies depending on the law.
“This should be a priority in discussing the new Draft Criminal Code (RKUHP). Because if there is no accountability unification, this more progressive criminal law reform will not be created,” said the Vice Dean III of UNAIR Law.
