Una 'atipica' ipotesi di corruzione internazionale approda in Cassazione: la lettura in filigrana dell'art. 322-bis c.p. attraverso la corruzione del parlamentare

The judgement presents the reader with a case of corruption that has some international features, despite the fact that it does not fall under the provision of Article 322-bis of the Criminal Code and therefore appears to be “atypical”. The decision’s main contribution is to confirm that an Italian Member of Parliament, who requests or accepts illicit payments for activities related to his office within an international parliamentary body – to which he belongs to by virtue of the mandate that has received by the national parliamentary chamber he belongs to – is, in fact, an Italian public official or person in charge of a public service, liable under the national provisions of articles 318-320 of the Criminal Code. Through the criterion of connection, the status of Member of the Italian Parliament and the fulfilment of the duties within an international parliamentary assembly are inextricably linked. This is a logical step which avoids the “mirror” provision of Article 322-bis. In this way, any objection regarding the violation of the non-retroactivity principle – that could arise as a consequence of the legislative amendment of Article 322-bis, to which a new paragraph has been added in 2019(par. 1, n. 5-quater), is also rejected. The decision is to be supported, even if the Court’s reasoning seems deliberately limited about the question of what the functions of the Italian parliamentarian properly encompasses. In the meantime, by shedding light on the interpretation of Article 322-bis, the decisions reveals the complexity of the norm and highlights some systematic inconsistencies, already appeared when the provision was introduced in the Criminal Code, and today even more important due to of the legislative changes that Article 322-bis has undergone.