Criminal liability for depletion of assets before bankruptcy

Justices: Øie, Møse, Ringnes, Bergh, Høgetveit Berg

The Court of Appeal had convicted three persons of aggravated depletion of assets in connection with insolvency, see section 283 subsection 1 b, cf. subsection 2, of the Penal Code 1902, cf. section 287 subsections 1 and 2. The provision in section 283 is continued in section 404 of the Penal Code 2005. The three had had various functions in two companies that went bankrupt. Shortly prior to the bankruptcy proceedings, they had transferred copies of production drawings to newly established companies, where they also had various functions. The use of the copies reduced the value of the drawings. The Supreme Court found that section 283 of the Penal Code 1902 also covered reduction in value, although the provision used the term "prevent". The term "suited to" entailed that there is no requirement that a reduction in value actually occurs, but there must be a certain proximity between the act and a potential reduction in the value of the relevant asset. If the drawings had not been owned by the bankruptcy debtors, but by a subsidiary – a question the court of appeal had not considered – an act reducing the value of an asset owned by a subsidiary would be suited to affect the value of the parent company's shares in the subsidiary, and thus constitute depletion of assets. The appeals against the Court of Appeal's judgment were dismissed.