Introduction
An employee receives company money. A partner handles business funds. An agent is entrusted with property. A person receives assets for a specific purpose and later uses them differently.
When does such conduct become criminal breach of trust?
The answer depends upon a fundamental concept: entrustment. Criminal breach of trust is not simply a dispute about ownership or repayment. The prosecution must establish the legally relevant relationship between the accused and the property and the dishonest conduct that followed.
Why Entrustment Matters
The offence is built around property being entrusted to or coming under the dominion of a person in a particular capacity. The accused is then alleged to have dishonestly misappropriated, converted, used or disposed of that property contrary to the legal requirement governing it.
This makes the original relationship between the parties extremely important.
A Payment Dispute Is Not Automatically Breach of Trust
Commercial disputes frequently involve unpaid amounts, disputed accounts and disagreements about how money should be used. Such disputes do not automatically constitute criminal breach of trust.
The prosecution must establish the specific elements of the offence rather than merely demonstrating that money or property remains unpaid or disputed.
This distinction is especially important in partnership, employment and agency disputes.
Employees and Company Property
An employee handling company funds may be placed in a position of trust. If evidence demonstrates dishonest conversion of entrusted property, criminal liability may arise.
But an allegation that an employee made an accounting error or failed to meet a financial target is fundamentally different. The evidence must establish the dishonest misuse of entrusted property.
Key Takeaways
• Entrustment is central to criminal breach of trust.
• Mere non-payment of money does not automatically establish the offence.
• The relationship between the parties and the purpose of entrustment matter.
• Corporate and partnership disputes require careful distinction between civil and criminal liability.
• Financial records can become important evidence.
Conclusion
Criminal breach of trust begins with trust, but the criminal offence arises only when the legal requirements concerning entrustment and dishonest misuse are established.
The distinction is important because not every dispute involving another person's money is a criminal case. The law requires more than a broken financial relationship it requires proof of the conduct that transforms misuse into criminality.
