Comprehensive economic-crime defense

Corporate Crime Specialists: Marbella Legal Team

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Specialists in corporate crime: comprehensive criminal defense

At RAKH ABOGADOS we have a highly specialized team defending individuals under investigation or affected by corporate crime, an area of White-Collar Criminal Law that covers fraud and unlawful conduct within commercial companies. These are complex offenses that require deep legal, accounting and financial knowledge, given the involvement of governing bodies, shareholders, accounting records, and commercial and tax regulations.

What corporate crimes are (arts. 290 to 297 of the Criminal Code)

Corporate crimes are the set of offenses set out in Chapter XIII of Title XIII of Book II of the Criminal Code (arts. 290–297) that protect the proper internal functioning of commercial companies and the rights of shareholders, creditors and third parties. They typically occur within public limited companies, private limited companies, cooperatives, savings banks or mutual societies.

The typical offender is the company's de facto or de jure director. The party harmed is the company itself, its shareholders, or a third party. The main offenses are:

Falsification of annual accounts and other corporate documents (art. 290 CC).
Imposition of abusive resolutions (art. 291 CC).
Imposition of or benefiting from a prejudicial resolution (art. 292 CC).
Obstruction of shareholder rights (art. 293 CC).
Obstruction of inspection or supervisory action (art. 294 CC).
Common provisions, including the requirement of a prior complaint (arts. 296–297 CC).

Penalties and defense strategies by article

Art. 290 CC (falsification of annual accounts): imprisonment of 1 to 3 years plus a fine of 6 to 12 months. Defense focused on the absence of suitability to cause harm or the absence of intent.
Art. 291 CC (imposition of abusive resolutions through a fictitious majority): imprisonment of 6 months to 3 years, or a fine of one to three times the profit obtained. We work to establish the legitimacy of the resolution or the absence of harm.
Art. 292 CC (imposition of or benefiting from a prejudicial resolution): same penalty as art. 291. Defense based on the correctness of the decision-making process.
Art. 293 CC (obstruction of shareholder rights): fine of 6 to 12 months plus special disqualification of 6 months to 2 years. Defense focused on formal compliance and a restrictive interpretation of the offense.

Falsification of annual accounts under art. 290 CC: the flagship offense

Article 290 CC punishes de facto or de jure directors of an incorporated or in-formation company who falsify the annual accounts or other documents that must reflect the entity's legal or financial position, in a manner suitable to cause economic harm to the company itself, to one of its shareholders, or to a third party. If actual harm results, the penalties are imposed in their upper half.

Three essential elements:

Qualified offender: the company's de facto or de jure director.
Falsification of annual accounts or other corporate documents (notes to the accounts, management report, balance sheet, profit-and-loss account).
Suitability to cause economically assessable harm (actual harm is not required for the basic offense).

"El tipo descrito en el delito del art. 290 consiste en el falseamiento de las cuentas anuales o de otros documentos que deban reflejar la situación jurídica o económica de la entidad. Se trata de un delito «especial propio» o «de propia mano» porque el autor o autores han de ser precisamente los administradores de hecho o de derecho de la sociedad. [...] No se describe ninguna conducta falsaria, y por tanto dolosa, atribuible a persona concreta alguna [...]; no toda irregularidad es equivalente a una falsedad de contenido penal."

Tribunal Supremo, Sala de lo Penal, STS 3093/2026, de 25 de junio de 2026 (ECLI:ES:TS:2026:3093), FD 5º, confirmando una sentencia absolutoria

The usual defense strategy focuses on:

Absence of intentional falsification (a mere accounting error, a debatable interpretive criterion).
Absence of harmful suitability (the accounts, even if inaccurate, could not have caused actual harm).
Evidence of professional diligence (a favorable audit report, the tax advisor's criterion).

Abusive resolutions and obstruction of oversight: arts. 291 to 294 CC

Imposition of abusive resolutions (art. 291 CC). Punishes those who, taking advantage of their majority position on the shareholders' meeting or the governing body, impose abusive resolutions, for their own or another's profit, to the detriment of the other shareholders.

Imposition of or benefiting from a prejudicial resolution (art. 292 CC). The same penalty applies when the prejudicial resolution is passed through a fictitious majority (votes of non-existent persons, abuse of a signature given in blank, undue attribution of votes to whom they do not belong).

Obstruction of shareholder rights (art. 293 CC). Punishes directors who, without legal cause, deny or prevent a shareholder from exercising rights to information, participation in management or oversight of company activity, preferential subscription of shares, or any other legally recognized right.

"El derecho de información del socio resulta uno de los más significativos que al mismo se atribuyen, al resultar, tanto en términos lógicos como metodológicos, presupuesto indispensable para el ejercicio de sus derechos de participación y censura o control de la gestión societaria. [...] Las conductas abarcadas por el tipo previsto en el art. 293 del CP no pueden ser definidas a partir de un automatismo en la penalización de todo aquello que no se ajuste a las exigencias del derecho mercantil [...]; no cabe una metodología mimética que se desentienda de la verdadera intencionalidad y trascendencia lesiva de la acción imputada."

Tribunal Supremo, Sala de lo Penal, STS 6093/2025, de 30 de diciembre de 2025 (ECLI:ES:TS:2025:6093), FD 5º, reiterando doctrina de la STS 729/2021, de 20 de septiembre

Obstruction of administrative inspection (art. 294 CC). Punishes the intentional obstruction of the action of persons, bodies or entities that inspect or supervise companies subject to administrative supervision. Penalty: imprisonment of 6 months to 3 years plus a fine.

Corporate crime and the minority shareholder: acting as private prosecution

Corporate crime offenses are the central criminal-law tool for protecting minority shareholders against abuse by directors or the majority. The most common scenarios in which we act as private prosecution on behalf of a minority shareholder:

Related-party transactions at manifestly distorted prices between the company and another company controlled by the same director (which may overlap with disloyal management under art. 252 CC).
Capital increases with an unjustified exclusion of preferential subscription rights.
Repeated refusal to hand over accounting documentation or to allow inspection of the company's books.
Meeting notices that fail to meet formal requirements needed for the minority shareholder to cast an informed vote.
Discriminatory distribution of dividends between categories of shareholders.
Concealed liquidations through the below-market sale of a productive business unit to a successor company controlled by the majority shareholder.

The criminal complaint can be combined with commercial-law proceedings (challenging resolutions, director liability, corporate and individual actions) to maximize protection for the minority shareholder.

How to proceed: filing a complaint and mounting a defense

If you are a minority shareholder or a harmed company

Technical review of corporate documentation: bylaws, minutes, annual accounts, related-party contracts, analytical accounting.
Criminal complaint before the competent investigating court with a precise legal characterization (arts. 290, 291, 293, 294 CC, potentially in conjunction with disloyal management under art. 252 CC).
Joining the proceedings as private prosecution.
Coordination with commercial-law proceedings (challenging resolutions, director liability).

If you are a director under investigation

Do not give a statement without a lawyer.
Documentary reconstruction of the conduct being questioned (minutes, files, professional advice received).
Defense built around the business judgment rule (business decisions taken within legal authority, even if they proved mistaken).
Defense accounting and commercial expert evidence.
Strategy aimed at dismissal during the pre-trial investigation phase or defense at trial.

Statute of limitations for corporate crime

The statute of limitations is governed by art. 131 CC:

Falsification of annual accounts (art. 290 CC, penalty up to 3 years) → 5 years.
Imposition of abusive resolutions (arts. 291–292 CC, penalty up to 3 years) → 5 years.
Obstruction of shareholder rights (art. 293 CC, fine plus 2-year disqualification) → 5 years.
Obstruction of inspection (art. 294 CC, penalty up to 3 years) → 5 years.

Important: corporate crime offenses are, as a general rule, prosecutable only at the request of the aggrieved party or the Public Prosecutor's Office when general interests or a plurality of persons are affected (art. 296 CC). An anonymous complaint is not sufficient.

Are you a director, proxy holder, shareholder or professional connected to a company and under investigation for a corporate crime, or do you wish to act as a harmed shareholder? Do not wait. Specialized technical defense is key to protecting your assets and your reputation. At RAKH ABOGADOS we combine litigation experience, expertise in corporate and economic law, and forensic accounting skills to offer you comprehensive defense throughout Spain.