On October 17th, the Joint Committee, in charge of settling the differences between both houses of Congress regarding the bill against bribery, passed its final report. It incorporates new offences and penalties in the areas of bribery and mismanagement of public funds. The report is expected to be debated and passed by both chambers of Congress next week. When that happens, it will become law.

In the bill, which dates from 2016, new criminal types regarding public administration were incorporated. The penalties for bribery -which will reach five years- were increased, at the same time that the figure of aggravated bribery was created for authorities elected by popular vote. Likewise, the figure of bribery without proven compensation was created.

As for the private sector, the bill expands the catalogue of crimes for which legal persons will have criminal responsibilities. It stands out the incorporation of the crime of misappropriation. Likewise, for the crimes that were already typified, the penalties and punishments were increased, incorporating the possibility of dissolving companies that incur in these crimes in a recurrent manner. Finally, and in order to encourage reporting, the figure of effective cooperation was created, which will provide benefits to those who report these acts.