Criminal penalties in case of reparation for damages

The Federal Law №533-FZ of 27.12.2018 with the amendments to articles 76.1 and 145.1 of the Criminal Code the Russian Federation and amendments to the Russian Federation Code of Criminal Procedure entered into force on January 8, 2019.

In general, the changes should influence on creation of a favorable business environment, risk reduction in business, creation of additional protection guarantees from unreasonable criminal proceedings.

The Law expanded the list of crimes, criminal cases of which should be terminated upon condition of reparation for damages. Now the list includes the crimes covered by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation:

part 1 of Article 146 - Violation of copyright and related rights;

part 1 of Article 147 - Violation of inventive and patent rights;

part 5 - 7 of Article 159 – Fraud;

part 1 of Article 159.1 - Credit fraud;

part 1 of Article 159.2 - Entitlement fraud;

part 1 of Article 159.3 - Wire fraud;

part 1 of Article 159.5 - Insurance fraud;

part 1 of Article 159.6 - Fraud in the cyber realm;

part 1 of Article 160 - Appropriation or embezzlement;

part 1 of Article 165 – Property damage inflicted by deceit or breach of trust

In addition, the amendments established the conditions that allow the head of organization to avoid the criminal liability for non-payment of wages.

Today, according to the Article 145.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the criminal liability is provided for non-payment of wages, pensions, scholarships, benefits and other payments because of self-interest or other personal interest; in cases of partial non-payment the criminal liability is more than three months, in cases of total non-payment or below the minimum wage - more than two months.

The head of the company or separate structural division and the employer – physical person can be criminally prosecuted.

The Article 145.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides the following sanctions for this crime:

According to the amendments, to avoid the responsibility for non-payment of wages is possible under the following conditions:

• commission of a crime for the first time;
• full repayment of debts within two months from the date of initiation of criminal proceeding;
• interest payment for the delay;
• absence of other crimes in the actions of the perpetrator.