Criminal Activity in Companies

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Companies have been prosecuted for manslaughter, fraud, and breaches of eg health and safety laws.

The prosecution and the organisation may make a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA)

Here, the organisation admits wrongdoing but stops short of pleading guilty - in return, a judge awards a fine but no criminal prosecution takes place.

It is up to the prosecution to determine whether a DPA should be offered. Offering it should be in the
interests of justice and its terms must be fair, reasonable and proportionate. No individual should benefit
from the offer of a DPA, which is why they are only offered to business organisations.

Criminal offences in relation to winding up:

These include:

  1. Declaring solvency without reasonable grounds

  2. Fraudulent trading

Prosecutions are often brought against directors of insolvent companies for fraudulent trading and
wrongful trading

The law protects creditors who may be disadvantaged by the company being liquidated.

Directors may try to deceive creditors and this is a criminal offence

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