Thesis title: Gli accordi illeciti nel sistema della corruzione
The work addresses the system of illicit agreements that lies at the heart of corruption offences, investigating the complex web of relations between them and with ‘collateral’ but related offences.
In the aftermath of the reform set out in Law No. 190 of 2012, the element of the agreement, in this particular sector, indeed shapes the criminal offence, becoming the cornerstone of the entire system (the structure of which has been confirmed over time by the successive reforms) of offences against the wide-ranging and multiform corruption phenomenon: the content and the ‘colour’ of the pactum sceleris distinguishes the multiple figures that protect the legal asset at different levels, in a sort of criminal progression, and becomes the key to understanding the relationships between them. An element that, however, does not fail to generate practical problems, linked above all to the ‘ubiquitous typicality’ that it imprints on the system, to the deficits of determinacy that characterise certain incriminations, allowing for cumbersome jurisprudential substitutions, and to the complex network of interferences on the structural level. The subject matter therefore requires a comparison, on a dogmatic level, with the multi-subjective offence model, in its various concepts.
The thesis consists of five Chapters that address, with an interdisciplinary approach and under the constant lens of comparison with other States, the subject, starting from the empirical-criminological nature of corrupt agreements, the evolution of protection models and the regulatory system on the subject, which has been subject to frequent reforms over time, most recently in 2024 (Chapter I). It then moves on to an in-depth analysis of the architecture of the corruption system, unravelling the role of the agreement in each incrimination, in the relations between them, also in regard to the axiological referent, as well as between corruption and the most contiguous offence figures in the system (Chapter II).
Chapters III and IV deal with the different models of agreement: from the more purely synallagmatic model underlying bribery figures, to the ‘asymmetrical’ model underlying undue inducement to give and promise benefits, up to the ‘illicit intermediation’ model that animates trafficking in influence, critically analysing the main problems.
In conclusion, the last chapter is devoted to a brief enucleation of the most critical issues that have emerged in the course of the study, especially with regard to the rule of law, not without some de jure condendo insights.
Comparison with different legal systems permeates the entire work, posing itself as a critical input and alternative perspective in each of the topics addressed.