Relationship between the offences

There is often a significant overlap between the offences described in this module.

The offences of bribery and extortion are closely connected, and may overlap.

• A bribe is a payment or other benefit offered to or demanded by someone to induce them to act improperly.  For example, a bribe to improperly award a contract to the payer of the bribe.
• Extortion (facilitation payment) is a payment demanded by someone to induce them to act properly.  For example, a public official who should be issuing a customs clearance which is due to be issued refuses to do so unless they receive a personal payment.
• Any element of threat by the demander of a bribe is likely also to make it an extortion offence.

Bribery and fraud closely overlap:

• A bribe payment is often concealed by fraudulent documentation (e.g. the bribe may be concealed as a legitimate business expense, with false documents created to support this).
• A bribe may be required in order to enable a successful fraud (e.g. a fraudulent claim for payment by a contractor for work it never undertook may require the contractor to bribe the supervisor to approve the claim).

Any dealing by the corrupt parties with the proceeds of their corrupt acts will normally constitute the offence of money laundering (e.g. moving the proceeds through the banking system).

If a corrupt payment is falsely described in a corporation’s accounts, it will normally constitute the offence of false accounting.

If a corrupt payment is deducted from a corporation’s profits in calculating tax, it will normally constitute a tax offence (as illegal payments cannot normally be deducted in calculating tax).