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Abstract:
The idea of this work imposed itself naturally, given the events of recent years at the national level regarding the facts of corruption of which are suspected most of the civil servants holding important positions in the state apparatus, whether we are talking about people who exercise powers in executive, legislative or judicial areas. One of the most frequently mentioned crime in such cases is influence trafficking, because there is a fine line between facts which may be included in such a legal qualification and those that relate to what we know as notional concepts that belong to the spheres of lobbying and advocacy. Next, the definitions of these terms will be analyzed and will be presented a comparison between those concepts to capture aspects that differentiate them in order to better understand the relationship between them.
Keywords: influence trafficking; lobby; advocacy.
I. Preliminaries
1.1 With regard to trading in influence
In article 291, paragraph (1) of Law no. 286/2009 on the Criminal Code, updated, influence trafficking is defined as demanding, receiving or accepting the promise of money or other benefits, directly or indirectly, for himself or another, committed by a person who has influence or lets it believe that (s)he has influence over a public servant under the promise that (s)he will determine that public servant to fulfil, not fulfil, speed up or delay the performance of an act falling within its service duties or to fulfil an act contrary to these duties (Parliament, 2009).
Regarding this definition, there are some clarifications that must be presented in relationship with the fulfilment of certain conditions that a deed must meet to be considered influence trafficking. First, it is necessary for the perpetrator to have or to insinuate that (s)he has influence over the public servant or the person exercising "a task which was entrusted by the public authorities or is subject to control or supervision of them on the performance of that public service "(article 175, paragraph (2) of Law no. 286/2009).
Then, the public official or person entrusted with assignments that fall within the exercise of public authority to be affected should have the power to perform the act for which the influence is trafficked; otherwise the act would not be...