Financial Crime World

White-Collar Crimes in the Dominican Republic

Overview of White-Collar Crimes

The Dominican Republic has implemented various laws and regulations to address white-collar crimes, including corporate fraud, bribery, influence peddling, and related offenses.

Criminal Company Law and Corporate Fraud

Regulation of Penal Crimes Due to Corporate Fraud

  • The General Law on Commercial Entities, Limited Liability Entities, and Individual Enterprises with Limited Liability (Law 479-08) regulates penal crimes due to corporate fraud.
  • Public companies are subject to public action, which can result in imprisonment of up to five years and fines of ten to 100 times the minimum wage for crimes such as:
    • Making false declarations
    • Obtaining savings or loans without approval
    • Disrespecting regulatory audits

Applicability of Bribery Laws

  • The Dominican Criminal Code includes bribery applicable exclusively to public officials who receive gifts to perform acts within their functions.
  • Law 448-06 on Bribery in Commerce and Investment sanctions both the natural person or private entity that offers bribes and the public official or person who performs public functions and requests or accepts goods or benefits for themselves or another person, affecting national or international trade or investment.

Anti-bribery Regulation

Lack of Specific Obligations

  • Dominican law does not establish a specific obligation to prevent bribery or the trafficking of influence.
  • However, crimes of administrative corruption constitute a precedent offense for the definition of money laundering.
  • There is no regulation that requires natural persons or entities to maintain and implement a compliance program specifically to prevent national or transnational bribery.