Criminal liability of the auditor for abuse of authority

Abstract

The paper is devoted to determining the grounds for bringing the auditor to criminal liability for abuse of authority. The Criminal Code of Ukraine provides for liability for abuse of authority by persons who provide public services. It is a crime to abuse one's powers by an auditor for the purpose of obtaining an illegal benefit, if this caused significant damage to the legally protected rights or interests of individual citizens, state or public interests, or the interests of legal entities. The guilty person shall be punished in the form of a fine from two thousand to four thousand non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens or restriction of liberty for a term of up to three years, or deprivation of liberty for the same term with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to ten years. Public danger of the act provided for in Part 1 of Art. 365-2 of the Criminal Code, due to the fact that abuse of authority by the auditor violates the established procedure for carrying out professional activities related to the provision of public services. Criminal liability for inaction arises under the conditions, if the auditor in a specific situation was obliged to perform a certain action and could perform it, however, failed to do so, for example failed to verify the details of the ultimate beneficial owner of the legal entity during customer due diligence. Abuse of authority is punishable as a criminal offense if it was committed for the purpose of obtaining an unlawful benefit and caused significant damage. Specific forms of abuse of powers by the auditor may be different and depend on the content of the granted powers and the scope of their application. The auditor's legitimate exercise of his powers excludes criminal liability.