Bribery offense

The National Court (AN) has just issued a ruling in a rather complex case where complaints offraud,public officials, and illegal access toprivate information are mixed. It all started when a complaint was filed against a businessman, in whichlawyers from a law firm linked to a business group and severalpolice officers, both active and retired, were involved.

The problem arose when some of thesepolice officers accessed, without legal justification,very confidential information about the businessman, which was safeguarded by the Centralized Prevention Body of the General Council of Notaries (where public deeds, among other sensitive data, are collected). That information, which should only be used with specific authorization, was evensent to third parties.

The defendants tried toinvalidate the process alleging violations of rights and errors in the custody of evidence. In addition, they deniedhaving committed any crime or having direct involvement.

In the end, the National Courtacquits one of the police officers, because it was not proven that he had used his position to obtain or disseminate the information. It is also stated that thelaw firm acted correctly in the legal procedures. However, itsentences the other police officer, who held an important position in the General Information Police Station, because he didaccess that confidential data without justification anddisclosed it, which constitutes a crime of revelation of secrets. Hissuperior is also sentenced, who accessed the filesusing his own password to extract all thenotarial history of the entrepreneur, without any legal basis to do so.

LA AN makes it clear that you mustdistinguish betweenaccessing confidential information within the scope of thefunctions that correspond to you and doing so "on your own", even if the law does not allow it. Also, remember how important it is to maintain the chain of custodyof evidence and protect data in these types of investigations, especially when public and private sector officials may be involved. of the tests and protect the data in this type of research, even more so when officials with activities in the public and private spheres may be involved.

Our lawyers ensure the defense of your rights in proceedings arising from acts that may constitute a crime