The criminal act of embezzlement

Abstract

The criminal act of embezzlement under Art. 201 of the Criminal Code (CC) consists in the unlawful act of appropriation of another person’s valuables, which is done by an official who is in a special relationship with the valuables as per Art. 201 CC. The said act objectifies a modified treatment of the valuables on the part of the doer (the doer has started treating the other person’s valuables as if they were his own), it is done in the interests of a non-owner and is a final one. By treating another person’s valuables as if they were his own, the subject under Art. 201 CC violates or fails to perform his official duties which ensue from the valuables being delivered to him or being entrusted to him for safekeeping or management, and violates the general obligation to render assistance to the owner in the realization of the absolute right of the latter over them. Through this act of appropriation, the official expresses a change in his intention regarding the object of crime – from the intention to hold it, to use it or to operate with it as another person’s object into an intention to possess it, to use it or to operate with it as if it were his own. The act of appropriation is always done in the interests of a non-owner of the appropriated valuables. The embezzlement under Art. 201 CC is realized by way of action or omission.