
A little-known doctrine could be a boon for investigative agencies, Nick Barnard, partner, Corker Binning, writes in this week’s NLJ
Moreover, the doctrine may be about to come into fashion due to the changing landscape ushered in by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.
Under the doctrine of ‘consent and connivance’, individuals can be criminally liable for offences committed by their companies. There is no need for the company to be convicted for a director to be liable.
Barnard also looks at ‘the unusual status of consent and connivance in the criminal law, in that they create secondary liability on the basis of a lower threshold of mens rea than that required to be satisfied by the primary offender’.