The crime of abuse of power

The crime of abuse of influence is considered an economic crime because it is related to the money that forms the backbone of the economy in the state, as this crime affects the stability of the political and economic life of the state, so international efforts have been concerted to enact laws to combat this crime and impose severe penalties to limit its commission, including the United Nations Convention The United Nations Anti-Corruption Committee, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on October 31, 2003 under General Assembly Resolution No. 58/4, as the agreement stipulated the crime of abuse of influence in Article 18 thereof.

The first section: the definition of the crime of abuse of influence
 

Although national laws, international conventions, and case law did not provide a unified definition of the crime of abuse of influence, criminal law jurists defined it as “trafficking by the offender with his real or alleged influence by taking, requesting, or accepting a consideration or benefit from the stakeholder in return for obtaining or attempting to obtain it.” He obtains a certain advantage from the public authority for the benefit of the latter by using this influence, and here the interest required of the employee is not within his functional competence, but rather he influences another employee to carry out the required interest, and here it is not always required that the exploiter of influence be an employee, but he may be a member of a general representative council or An ordinary person from among the general public who has influence over a public employee, deriving it from kinship, friendship, or other personal relationships that are built on the basis of common interests.

The second subsection: the reason for criminalization in the crime of abuse of influence
 

The goal of the penal legislature in criminalizing the abuse of influence is to protect and ensure the regular functioning of the public administration based on the principle of achieving the public interest. To trust in the public office, and therefore this crime offends the rule of law and institutions that states seek to adopt.

  Section III: Pictures of the crime of abuse of influence
 

The first picture: the exploitation of the ordinary individual for his influence over the public servant.

The second picture: the public employee's exploitation of his job influence over another public employee who is not under his command.

The third picture: the parliamentary member’s exploitation of his influence over the public employee or his influence as a representative within the limits of his position.

Section IV: The crime of abuse of influence in the Palestinian legal system
 

The Jordanian Penal Code No. 16 of 1960 did not stipulate the crime of exploiting influence in a special text under the name of the crime of abuse of influence, but it stipulated the provisions of this crime under the name of “the crime of obtaining personal benefit and illegal trafficking” in accordance with the provisions of Article 176 thereof, and it is punishable by imprisonment of 6 months to two years and a fine of not less than ten Jordanian dinars, which is considered a misdemeanor crime.

Section V: The difference between the crime of abuse of influence and the crime of bribery
 

The crime of abuse of influence differs from the crime of bribery as follows:

The crime of exploitation of influence includes the meaning of trading in influence, while the crime of bribery includes the meaning of trading in the public office itself.
The crime of abuse of influence is committed by public officials or ordinary persons on public employees, whether inside or outside their functional, spatial, or temporal jurisdiction, while the crime of bribery is committed by employees or ordinary persons on public employees only within and within the limits of their functional, spatial, and temporal jurisdiction.
 

Section VI: The difference between the crime of abuse of influence and the crime of functional investment
 

The crime of abuse of influence differs from the crime of functional investment as follows:

The material act in the crime of investing the position is achieved when the employee defrauds in the management, sale or purchase of funds for the state by virtue of his agency on behalf of the state, while the material act in the crime of abuse of influence is achieved when the employee accepts or requests the perpetrator himself or others, or takes a promise or gift as a pretext of his real influence or alleged.
In the crime of abusing influence, what reached the perpetrator from the hands of the stakeholder as a compensation, while in the crime of job investment, the employee commits the crime with the aim of obtaining funds by virtue of his management of the money, whether movable or real estate, and without the intervention of a third person or partner, as he commits it alone without the intervention of anyone. .
 

Section VII: Elements of the crime of abuse of influence
 

The crime of abuse of influence, like other crimes, requires the meeting of the three general elements of the crime, which are the material pillar, the moral pillar, and the legal pillar, in addition to a fourth pillar specific to the crime of abuse of influence, which is the presumed pillar. The elements of the crime of abuse of influence consist of the following:

The first pillar: the assumed element in the crime of abuse of influence (the element of influence with the public employee)

The pillar of influence is a distinctive basis for this crime, as the crime does not occur without it, and influence is defined according to the opinions of jurists and the judiciary that “it is for a person to have a social or functional position or connections with others and weight through which he can intervene to weigh and pressure workers in state agencies or some of them to carry out his will ”,

The types of influence are divided into:

Real influence: It is when the actor enjoys power that he derives either from the public office or from his political, social or economic status.
The alleged influence “imaginary influence”: The claim of influence means that there is strong evidence for the stakeholder that the actor has influence over the competent public official.

The second pillar: the material element in the crime of abuse of influence

The criminal behavior of the crime of abuse of influence consists of two combined elements:

The first element, “criminal activity”, is the request, acceptance or taking
Where the request is defined as a disclosure of a desire or an expression of a will and involves urging the stakeholder to provide compensation or a promise of it,

Acceptance is defined as a behavior emanating from the actor in which he expresses his approval regarding the offer issued by the stakeholder that includes an offer of deferred payment in exchange for the actor seeking his influence with the competent public authorities.

Taking is defined as a purely material behavior whereby the offender receives the opposite, transfers it to his possession, and the crime is realized whether the offender takes the gift for himself or for someone else.

The second element, “the goal of criminal activity,” is the interest
Whereas, the goal of the criminal activity in the crime of abuse of influence is to obtain or attempt to obtain from the public authority an advantage for the stakeholder, and an example of the advantage is “the issuance of a decision by the public authority to appoint a person in a job.”

The third pillar: the moral element in the crime of abuse of influence

The crime of abuse of influence is considered one of the intentional crimes for which the law requires the presence of the general criminal intent of the abuser of influence, as the crime of abuse of influence does not occur by mistake or negligence.

The pillars of general criminal intent consist of the elements of knowledge and will.

Science is represented in the knowledge of the exploiter of influence of the elements and elements of the crime committed, that is, the knowledge of the perpetrator that he has influence and exploits it illegally in order to achieve a special interest above the public interest. intended crime,

The element of will is also represented in the will of the offender, the “using influence”, going towards achieving the criminal result represented in realizing the private interest that he seeks by performing the physical acts of the crime of exploiting influence, and that trading in influence is his means to achieve his goals.