Sandra Orihuela contributes to the Anti-corruption and Bribery in Peru chapter of the Lexology Navigator, a comparative global Q&A guide. This section is about legal framework and authorities.
Legal framework
Authorities
Which authorities are responsible for investigating bribery and corruption in your jurisdiction?
The local authorities responsible for investigating bribery and corruption are:
- the Prosecutor´s Office Specialised in Corruption Crimes at the Ministry of Justice;
- the Public Ministry;
- the courts; and
- the Office of the Comptroller General.
Since 2010 the High-Level Anti-corruption Commission (CAN) of the Ministry of Justice has been in charge of proposing and executing the National Anti-corruption Plan, coordinating actions relating to anti-corruption matters with other government entities. Further, the Presidential Integrity Commission was created in October 2016 as part of the new government’s anti-corruption efforts to reinforce CAN’s outreach and propose new policies to prevent corruption.
Domestic law
What are the key legislative and regulatory provisions relating to bribery and corruption in your jurisdiction?
Under the Criminal Code, the bribery of foreign and domestic public officials or servants is a crime as it is an offence against the public administration. The Criminal Code was approved by Decree-Law 635 in April 1991.
Domestic bribery The crimes of corrupting public officials or servants are divided into:
- passive bribery, where the offender is a public official or servant; and
- active bribery, where the offender is a civilian.
The active bribery of domestic public officials or servants is regulated in Article 397 of the Criminal Code, and the bribery of certain domestic officials (eg, a public prosecutor, arbitrator or magistrate) is regulated in Article 398. The penalties for bribery are generally higher when the public official takes action or omits to take action in violation of his or her obligations, compared to when he or she takes action in furtherance of his or her public functions. Legislative Decree 1352 (enacted January 6 2017) imposes corporate administrative liability on entities involved in the crime of active bribery of domestic public officials or servants (including the bribery of certain domestic officials regulated in Article 398 of the Criminal Code), which will come into force as of January 1 2018.
Foreign bribery Law 29316 (published on January 14 2009) was enacted to incorporate various provisions into several different laws in order to implement the Peru-United States Trade Promotion Agreement (in force since February 2009). As a result, Article 397-A incorporated into the Criminal Code the offence of transnational active bribery, which regulates the bribery of public officials or servants from other states, as well as officials of international public organisations. Consequently, Law 30424 (April 21 2016) approved administrative responsibility of legal companies for transnational active bribery, which will come into force as of January 1 2018. Finally, Article 393-A prohibits passive bribery for foreign public officials and officials of public international organisations.
International conventions
What international anti-corruption conventions apply in your jurisdiction?
Peru has signed and ratified the following international conventions:
- the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, ratified in 1997;
- the United Nations Convention against Corruption, ratified in 2004; and
- the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and its Protocols (Trafficking in Persons, Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking of Firearms), ratified in 2002.
Peru intends to become a party to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, and to this end has taken significant steps to amend its legislation in order to meet OECD standards. The Peru Country Programme, launched by Peru and the OECD in 2014, aims to improve public policies and services that Peru offers its citizens in areas including decentralisation, governance, anti-corruption, health, education, labour, environmental management, competence, investments and tax policies.
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