New Delhi: The Law Commission of India headed by former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court A. P. Shah has questioned the upcoming Anti-corruption (Amendment) bill as it could potentially make the entire board of directors of a company vulnerable to criminal charges if their employees are found bribing a public servant to obtain or retain business.
A report published in Navbharat Times says that the 50-page report submitted to Law Minister Sadananda Gowda on February 12 has a provision which ascribes criminal liability to every person who is in charge of and is responsible to the organisation for the conduct of its business. The proposed law, targeting the 'supply side of corruption', stipulates a 3-7 year jail term for that offence.
"The effect (of the provision) is that if an employee (E) of a company (C), sitting in Bangalore bribes a local official (R) to get its clearance on time, then the combined effect of the Bill is that all will be liable unless C can prove it has in place adequate procedures designed to prevent such conduct.
However, the provision will operate to deem every single person in charge of, and responsible to C - thus, every director on the board of directors, who may be sitting in Delhi more than 2000 kms away - guilty, and the burden on proof will shift on each of these directors to prove they had no knowledge or had exercised due diligence," the Law Commission report says.
The new draft proposed by the Law Commission says only that official must be held liable whose consent or connivance is proved before giving the bribe.
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