A (in)aplicabilidade da intranscendência da pena em decorrência de incorporação societária em crimes ambientais cometidos por pessoas jurídicas

Abstract

This work aims to analyze the impact of corporate mergers and acquisitions on the criminal liability of legal entities committing environmental crimes. The research was motivated by the reading of the Superior Court of Justice's ruling (Special Appeal 1.977.172/PR), which decided on the analogical application of Article 107, item I, of the Penal Code in cases of corporate mergers. This application leads to the extinction of the criminal liability of the incorporated legal entity, preventing the incorporating entity from assuming the defendant's position in the criminal action as a successor, in accordance with the principle of non-transcendence of punishment, resulting in the absence of a penal response from the State for the committed environmental crime. Therefore, the study seeks to understand the challenges of reconciling the dynamics of business operations with criminal responsibility for nvironmental crimes, highlighting the importance of an in-depth analysis of the limits and consequences of this legal interpretation, aiming to ensure the effectiveness of environmental legislation and appropriate punishment for harmful actions to the environment by legal entities. To achieve this goal, the hermeneutic approach method was employed, and documentary analysis was used as a procedural method, while within the scope of research techniques, bibliographic and documentary techniques were employed. The work was organized to achieve the following specific objectives: I) Investigate the model of criminal liability of legal entities in the Brazilian legal system; II) Examine the nature of the corporate merger business operation and its general and specific legal consequences within Criminal Law; III) Question the need for differentiated environmental criminal protection; IV) Study the judgment ruling of the Special Appeal N. 1.977.172/PR, by the Superior Court of Justice, critically analyzing the arguments used and discussing what would be the most appropriate legal interpretation. As a result, it was concluded that the analogical application carried out by the Superior Court of Justice is not the most suitable legal interpretation for the specific case, given that the death of a natural person is a phenomenon that follows a completely different logic and, therefore, is incompatible with the economic rationale that drives corporate reorganization operations. Nevertheless, the ratio decidendi may be used to legitimize frauds aimed at avoiding the criminal liability of criminal legal entities, further compromising the already fragile environmental legal asset, whose safeguard is essential for the maintenance of all forms of terrestrial life and has constitutional status for promotion, being the right of all to enjoy an ecologically balanced environment.