CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC TRUST OF THE STATE: MATERIAL FALSIFICATION AND IDEOLOGICAL FALSIFICATION

Bolivian legislation, for the purposes of definition and scope, classifies documents as public and private. Article 1287 of the Civil Code determines that a public or authentic document is one issued with the legal formalities by an official authorized to give it public faith, such as the Civil Registry Office, which is responsible for recording facts or acts related to the civil status of natural persons, among others established by law. It differentiates that when a document is granted before a notary public and registered in a protocol, it is called a public deed.

Article 1297 of the Civil Code defines a private document as one that has been drafted and signed by one or more private individuals and whose purpose is to establish agreements or commitments between them regarding the truth of their statements. This type of document does not require the intervention of a notary public, since its legal validity is based on the will of the parties involved in its drafting and signing. Now, the Penal Code, categorizing the concepts described above and for the purpose of punishing unlawful conduct that violates the public trust of the state, classifies crimes according to the nature of the contracts signed, namely, material falsification and ideological falsification related to the falsification of public documents or instruments and falsification of private documents, as detailed below:

Article 198 of the Penal Code establishes that material falsification consists of forging, in whole or in part, a public document or altering a genuine one, in such a way that harm may result, incurring imprisonment for one (1) to six (6) years. Material falsification implies modifying the physical medium of the document in general (erasing, adding signatures, changing dates).

Article 199 of the Penal Code establishes that ideological falsification occurs when false statements are inserted or caused to be inserted into a public or authentic document, the document itself being genuine but its content false. Unlike material falsification (physically altering the document), ideological falsification alters the truth of the facts narrated and incorporated in the public instrument, with the purpose of causing harm or deceiving, punishing the conduct with a prison sentence of one (1) to (6) years.

In both cases, if the perpetrator is a public official and commits the acts in the exercise of their duties, the penalty will be imprisonment, increased to between two (2) and eight (8) years.

The penalty may also be increased by one-third when committed to facilitate the commission of the crimes of human trafficking and other related offenses.

Article 200 of the Penal Code penalizes the falsification of private documents with a sentence of six months to two years for anyone who materially or ideologically falsifies a private document.

This means that this crime is committed by forging, in whole or in part, a private document or by introducing or causing to be introduced statements unrelated to the reality of the facts into a private document.

Finally, Article 203 of the Penal Code not only punishes those who participate in the falsification of public or private documents or instruments, but also those who use them knowing they are illegal with the intent to cause harm, punishing them with a prison sentence according to the type of crime and document falsified.

The renowned lawyer, Ericka Jenny López Rojas, Notary Public No. 110 of the Municipality of Santa Cruz, drawing on her extensive experience as a Notary Public, kindly provided us with context on the security measures implemented by the Bolivian state to prevent the falsification of public documents and instruments. These measures aim to safeguard the public trust of the State. Thus, since June 2022, the Plurinational State of Bolivia has implemented the digital platform called SINPLU (Plurinational Notary Information System), designed to issue, manage, and verify physical and digital notarial documents with high security standards. This system operates under the supervision of the Plurinational Notary Directorate (DIRNOPLU), and its purpose is to centralize notarial information digitally, facilitating online document validation through QR codes and digital signatures.

This system guarantees the authenticity of documents through five main security measures:
• QR Code - Enables immediate verification of the document´s existence from a mobile device.
• Security Code - A unique code used to validate the document online.
• Hash Code - Guarantees the document´s integrity, ensuring it has not been altered.
• Digital Signature - Guarantees the document´s authorship and integrity.
• Notary´s Signature and Seal - The holographic and digital signature of the Notary Public.

However, despite this significant advancement, deficiencies still exist within notarial documents.
For example, Notaries Public and the Real Estate Registry (DD.RR.) operate as disconnected systems, which can still lead to legal uncertainty. While the notary certifies the document, the Real Estate Registry maintains the property record. This lack of direct interoperability forces citizens to manually manage both steps, increasing the risk of forgery and real estate fraud.

The same applies to the Santa Cruz de la Sierra Municipal Government. Due to a lack of interoperability, it is possible to falsify IMT (Municipal Transfer Tax) receipts, among others.

Therefore, it is recommended to verify the authenticity of documents and their source with a lawyer specializing in this area, ensuring the veracity of the information recorded before a notary or authority, avoiding the use of dubious documents, and ensuring that all signatures correspond to real transactions, in order to avoid criminal penalties.

Paola Paz Taceo

Laywer