Criminal Liability Of An Executive Under Turkish Law

During his/her professional life, a company executive operating in Turkey can face various types of criminal liability. This article aims to provide a general overview of the possible risks in relation to criminal law that an executive can come across.

The picture is clear when an executive intentionally commits a crime to the detriment of the company that he/she is working for in order to obtain personal financial benefit. In such cases, the situation is more straightforward. The perpetrator is the executive who committed the criminal act, he/she is individually liable, and the company can be involved in the criminal proceedings as the complainant.

The first example that comes to mind is abuse of trust, which is one of the most common white-collar crimes in Turkey. If an executive obtains a personal benefit by abusing their authority to manage or represent the company, this constitutes abuse of trust, and it is punishable by imprisonment up to seven years. If